Life After the Water
by Courtni Desiree
Summary: If James Patterson ended the series after the fifth book, Max, how would it all end up? This is my version of it, and it doesn't involve Fang's death, OR Dylan. Fax and Eggy. Oh, and incase I forgot in the story: DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT own Maximum Ride.
1. Where do we go from here?

**Okay, I'm completely new to this(: **

**This is continued off the book "Maximum Ride: Max".**

**After the epilogue, I was too anxious to wait for the next book, so I came up with this.**

**Absolutely none of this goes along with the book. Its just Fax, Eggy, Nudge, Angel, Gazzy, and Total. And what ever I come up with for the story.**

**This is /my/ version of what would happen… It doesn't go along with the next book, in fact, this is how /I/ would've written the rest of the series, it's a fan fiction, it doesn't have to go along with the sixth book, or if theres a seventh, or anything.**

**Its simply the rest of the series with what /i/ see happening, with no Dylan, no Fang's death predicted by Angel, or what ever. D: I don't like that part of the series, do you? **

**I'm completely rambling, aren't I?  
**

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Laughing at Angel's obvious enthusiasm about me and Fang, my mind felt more... What would you call it? Open? Ah, yeah.

_Open..._

I glanced at Fang and saw my own giddy grin reflected on his face. I still wasn't a girl for emotion, but I was totally one for love, and love could be an action, too. To _love_ somebody. Like you need them constantly. You get it, right?

Since my rescue mission when Angel ventured out into crushing waters and I had to retrieve her, not knowing whether I would live or not… Wondering if that one time would be the last time I saw Fang? That changes your perspective just a bit.

Of course, having your flock there staring as you almost tackled him into a kiss could kinda make your cheeks red. Luckily, I was smart enough to avoid all questions they threw at me.

Now we were together, and nothing would break us apart.

Eyeing Fang, I folded in my wings and dive bombed into the waters below, where the others of our flock were. Diving under, I opened my mouth to take in some water, then … Well, I can't say swallowed it, because it didn't stay in my body, but it went somewhere from my mouth to my throat back to the water. It was a very confusing process.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Fang mimicking my water intake pattern, then disposing of it somehow. Smiling at him underwater, I resurfaced at the same time as him. Suddenly we were surrounded by chanting.

"Max and Fang sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

I heard Nudge's voice above all others, but I also heard Gazzy's and Angel's. Iggy, however, didn't see us, and just now picked up on why we weren't with them before.

"Max and Fang _kissed_?" He exclaimed, his eyes going wide. Then, in obvious rememberent(is that a word? I don't know, I'm a little short on edu-ma-cation, 'ya know), he tagged on, "Again?"

Nudge nodded her head enthusiastically, along with Angel, whose curls bobbed up and down with every movement. Gazzy, remembering Iggy couldn't see someone nodding their head due to his blindness, announced, "_Kissing_? They were all over each other!" And he chuckled before swimming out of my reach, as well as Fang's. I knew that kid had learned _SOMETHING_ from me over the years.

Now Iggy joined in on Nudge's little chant and me and Fang smiled at each other.

Without saying a word, we walked out of the water up to the shore, hand in hand. Mocking the chant that the others were still screaming up to us, I jumped into the lowest branch of a tree, followed by Fang.

I hadn't really planned on kissing him up there, I just wanted to show the kids we _weren't_ kissing in the trees, but Fang didn't.

Feeling my heart beat accelerate as he held my left hand with his right in our laps, and put his other hand behind my neck, and soon his lips were touching mine, with such a softness that you'd never think Fang would've had. But he did.

Neither of us had breathed, and my head began to fog up, though I still heard Angel and Nudge cheering in the water. I would kill those kids later, I made a note to my self. But right now, I would stay here with the guy I needed more than anything else. Then my mind felt more crowded than ever.

_See, I told you you should give him a break. You're almost enjoying it more than him. I think it's a tie, though. _

I sighed, taking my first breath of the kiss. Angel was in my head, but it wasn't only her in here.

_I told you he was your soul-mate. _Who do you think that was? Take a wild guess. If you guessed "the Voice", you would be _correct_!

Two… well, neither of them are _humans_, but a bird-kid and a voice were nagging at me. "I told you so" can annoy you while kissing the most amazing person, but I deal.

Too wrapped up in Fang to worry about either of them, I freed the hand he was holding, and wrapped my arms around his back. Suddenly, both his hands were on my waist, and we were still going. My breathing was even, and so was his, but how long could we go without coming up?

The answer? Until a pain-in-the-butt six—wait! _Seven_-year old comes up with her talking-flying dog saying the dolphins and fish wanted to thank us.

Was that it?

No.

"By the way, guys, see how this all turned out? Don't you think you should listen to me more? I mean, without me Max, you wouldn't have known Fang loved you, and Fang, without me … Max wouldn't have known you loved her. Right? And Max, you wouldn't have realized you loved Fang if I hadn't talked to you. So, why are you hiding from me and Nudge and Gazzy and Iggy up in this tree?" Total growled. "And Total?" Angel tacked on.

Angel, Angel, Angel… First, let me say, Dang! This kid was talking to Nudge too much, she had developed non-stop talking that Nudge had acquired so, so long ago. Second, she had so many questions. But, I wasn't quite ready to tell her Fang had well let me know his feelings for me even without her help. "Sure, sure, you're right, from now on every little detail of yours will be accepted with no doubt, all because you can read minds. Is that what you're trying to say?" I had said, followed up by Fang answering the last part.

"We're not hiding from you guys, but we wanted to talk some, too, sweetie." Staring openmouthed at Fang I tilted my head. Sweetie? Man, I was really getting to this guy over here…

Not at all discouraged Angel shrugged and headed back to the water, when I realized Total hadn't spoken. That was odd, but I figured he knew we knew he was in on the little chant and wanted to at least live to the day he—get this—married Aklia.

I shrugged, not thinking much of it and sighed. It was time we decided what our next move was. If I were to start kissing Fang again I didn't know when we would stop and be able to decide.

"So," I began, holding his hand while his other arm wrapped around my shoulders. I rested the side of my head on his shoulder and thought. "Where to, next?" I questioned him softly.

I could tell he was thinking. He was quiet, and he's always quiet when he thinks. "Maybe we could head off to Doctor Martinez's house?" He suggested, knowing that I would want to spend as much time as I could with my mom and sister before I had to get back to saving the rest of the world. "It's only a matter of time until the voice starts giving you new coordinates, and this time your mom might not be at that particular spot."

I nodded on his shoulder and leapt of the branch at the same time he had.

Walking to the water we called the rest of the flock up to the shore and told them our plan. I noticed we'd be able to get in about two or three hours of flight before we needed to rest, and then we'd only be a couple hours from my mom and sister.

Taking off, we set off towards my mom, and Iggy, in particular, couldn't seem to sit still.

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**Reviews would be amazing. **

**I know it's not great, its my first chapter, and its not full of action, yet... **

**Maybe around chapter ten, or a few after that. **

**Hey, don't blame me, the beginning chapters of stories can sometimes put me to sleep!  
**


	2. Sweet home Arizona

**Okay, I have quite a few chapters done, but heres the second one, already. Yay, right? **

**Hah, sure, what ever I say. **

**Nope, its not amazing, but I like it. Get over it if you don't. (:  
**

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Releasing Fang's hand after our flight, I folded in my wings to let myself drop some. Soon I was on the front lawn of my mom's house and short after that I was hugging Ella, my half-sister.

Remembering how I'd said Iggy had seemed rather enthusiastic? There was a reason, we're getting to that soon.

"Max!" I heard my half-sister cry out in happiness. My mom was still recovering but over all was getting back to full health. "I missed you so much! I know it hasn't been long but… Oh, I just missed you!" She laughed as she hugged me.

Coming up behind me after Ella had hugged me, Fang wrapped an arm around my waist, leaning down to whisper in my ear. "Check out Iggy," he chuckled lightly. I turned my head to see Iggy looking Ella in the eyes, and not her forehead, above her head, her nose, her mouth… He knew right where her eyes were. I laughed. _Crush, much? _I laughed to my self and nodded at Fang.

"Sis better watch out, someone's coming after her, and it's not Shaw Akens, this time." I laughed, reaching up on my tippy-toes to kiss his lips lightly before going inside to see my mom. However, after he smiled down at me, we raced inside to my mother who was resting on the couch. "Mom!" I cried happily, hugging her as gently as I could and kissing her forehead.

Fang hovered close by, remembering my mother had no idea we were… "Together" now. She had tried talking to me about it before, warning me there were other kinds of pain besides physical, and I knew that… Fang leaving me when Ari came along. Thinking the witch who almost killed me in Germany was my mother. Losing Ari so shortly after I discovered we had been related. So much more, too. But, maybe we should see how she takes Ella and Iggy before she has to deal with me and Fang.

Just on cue with my thoughts, Ella, Iggy, the Gasman, Nudge, Angel, and Total walked in the door from outside. Fang was absentmindedly walking around the living room looking at photos, knick-knacks, and etcetera. Angel and Total were playing with Magnolia, Ella's dog. Nudge was "ooh"ing and "ahh"ing at al the pretty designs she came across in the house. The Gasman was sitting in the chair relaxing, watching Fang try to refrain himself from kissing me, and chuckling at his face when he would look at me.

Then there was Ella and Iggy who weren't there with us. Looking around, I remembered my way to her bed room and quickly "wandered" up there with my "best buddy" Fang by my side. Hearing laughter coming from inside my half-sister's room, I cautiously turned the door knob and cracked it open a bit.

"Hey Max and Fang!" Iggy exclaimed, moisture in his eyes, as well as Ella's. Their faces were bright red as if they had just been laughing as hard as they possibly could. Ella's face turned to us and she came over and grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards her bed.

"Max!" She chided. "Iggy tells some darn funny stories you guys have had together!" She laughed as she hugged Iggy. She was happy, and Iggy was definitely more than having fun. "He's _soooo_ amazing! He's blind… Well, no, he's _not_ blind. If he was he wouldn't have been able to tell where everything was! Or, maybe he's just a blind amazing-est." She smiled and he grabbed her hand very subtly when all of the sudden _she_ leaned over to kiss _him._

If I ever saw these two getting together, it definitely was from him kissing her, but apparently not. Iggy's face turned red, and so did Ella's. She mumbled an apology and Iggy replied, "I didn't mind at all…"

I was shocked. Beyond surprised. I guess now it was her turn to be surprised at me, because Fang took a step closer to me and held my neck in his two hands.

Tilting my head, I locked my arms around his back, then his slid down to my waist. Then I heard Iggy's voice, "Here we go again…" And Ella's simultaneous question, "Does this happen often?"

I could feel the sides of Fang's mouth turning in a smile, even as he kissed me. I heard my half-sister laughing and I, too, smiled. We pulled apart soon, when we heard footsteps coming down the hall. I doubted it was my mom, but who ever it was, I decided not to poison their mind by opening a door only to see me and Fang making out. I turned to Ella who was laughing at me, saying, "I remember the first time you brought Fang here you said he wasn't your boyfriend. Would you like to change your answer?" She joked, and I smiled at her and rolled my eyes. Fang was still hugging me with his face in my hair, and I felt his body gently shaking with silent laughter.

Finally, the footsteps opened the door and we turned to it.

No. Not him. Not again.

If you can't guess who it was, maybe you should go back and reread my life's story.

The man standing in the door way was Jeb.

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**Gasp! **

**Like that wasn't predictable. **

**Jeb always comes back. **

**Reviews would be nice, thanks.  
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	3. Good Ol' Bullet Proof Ragging

**Thanks for the reviews, guys! Thats three more than I thought'd I'd get! ;D **

**So, this is the third chapter, which is really the third and fourth chapter combined. **

**But, they were both pretty short. **

**So, now they're both chapter three, but there's gonna be a break where the next chapter should start, but really doesn't. **

**Get it? **

**Okay. (: **

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I'd never told anyone this, but the only emotion I didn't mind was rage. It was easy for me to talk about(to Fang at least), and its what fueled me in battles. So, really, right now, my emotion was perfectly fine with me. I was enraged that Jeb was here.

I felt Fang stiffen next to me and he protectively tightened the hug we were in.

My jaw locked tight and Iggy froze, Ella kneeling on the bed next to him. Fang put his mouth next to my ear and started murmuring things like, "Calm down, it's all right", and "Don't worry, we'll take care of this."

It wasn't until about two minutes of Fang's words Jeb finally cleared his throat and spoke, "Hi, Max. Fang. Iggy. Ella." Then he looked awkwardly at the ground he was standing on. That's such a weird phrase, don't you think? Of course if you're staring at the ground, it's the ground you're standing on!

Wait. Scratch that. For a mutant freak like me you're not always standing on ground. Or standing at all.

"What now, Jeb?" I snarled defiantly, and Fang loosened his hold on me. I'm guessing he knew I wasn't gonna go all ninja-crazed-bird-mutant-thing-kid-…bird on _my father_(though I still can't picture him as my father, why didn't he tell me this when I wished he could've been, rather than waiting until I hated him? Oh right, he's a freakin' idiot.), though I was completely capable. But I'd spare my mom's house of the blood stains and all those gory effects of crushing someone in which you hate with a passion.

He almost seemed taken aback by my defiance. How? I don't know. He should know me to be the most defiant kid on the planet. Guess he isn't as smart as he seems. But, then again, he never was very smart. So, what do I know?

"Err…" He began awkwardly then looked down the hall. "Well, I wanted to come and check up on your mom, and I didn't think you would be here. I was actually coming to say hi to Ella."

Oh, thank goodness. Right? No. That's what I _wish_ happened. Instead, his words were, "Something's come up."

Ah. Another day, another night. Back to saving the world, ay?

I moaned audibly and sighed. I didn't even ask what now, I just accepted I didn't have a choice.

Turns out its not major this time. Well, not getting on a plane and flying everywhere. Instead, we were to go to Ella's school and talk to the some thousand plus kids about how they can help us in our quest to save the world and all humanity. Which, unless you're not human, includes you, so listen up for the next while.

Ella was beyond excited. She couldn't wait to see how the boys who I'd saved her from so, so long ago, reacted seeing me again. And not being able to do anything. Why? My mom was taking extra measures this time.

'Ya know how when the president gives speeches there is some sort of bullet proof glass around him? My mom is just so awesome she got some of that stuff. Even if some M-Geeks or something tried to attack it'd stall them for a few moments.

It felt weird, depending on her so much when I was near her, especially when she wasn't the person I depended on most, but was a close second, and how she had no idea who the person I depended on most was and why that was the person I depended on most.

Yup, you guessed it. Fang. And she still had no clue about us. Life is good… Ish.

It's good until you have to go to your half-sister's school, watch her sitting along side you because shes "privlidged" at this assembly, and not to mention her, your _half-sister_, making googly-eyes at someone you saw as your brother.

But I can't say much there. Half is better than full. Yup, me and Fang are brother and sister… Well, we always acted like it. But we're not anymore. Now we're beyond that, I guess.

Anyways, how about we get on to the part that I really could live without?

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Taking a deep breath, I sighed as Fang leaned down to kiss my hair, telling me to do my best.

I'd already seen those three boys who'd almost beat up Ella when I first met her, and let me tell you, their expressions were _priceless_. Fang snickered at their reaction after he had approached them with me.

"So, guys," I had casually started. "Remember me?" I asked, and their faces froze, probably remembering that day. The leader one wrapped his arms around his ribs, another covering his nose, and the other just standing there in pure terror. I laughed.

"Why are you here? Gonna beat us up on school grounds? Good luck with that!" They spoke, thinking they had won oh so easily.

Fang smirked. "So, Max, these the kids who were picking on your little sis?" he asked me, glancing at the guys again. The leader's face froze, and I saw confusion seep into his eyes.

"Yeap. These little twerps were about to beat on Ella when I saved her." I spoke, looking at them, still.

The one who was holding his nose widened his eyes. "Ella Martinez is your sister?" He exclaimed in disbelief. "Hah! Yeah right. She's an only child."

I laughed. She had been, until last year. "Yeah, well, I'm her long lost sister. And, this is probably going to be the first and last time you hear anyone say that and have it being the complete truth." I chided. Fang shook with silent chuckles next to me.

Then he spoke up again. "I guess its only fair they knew the truth, maybe that will make them listen better." He went on. Then fear crossed the boys' faces and I grinned at them.

"You still haven't answered why you're here." The leader announced, looking around for something to hide behind, I'd guess.

"Oh, I'm here for the assembly." I answered. "Yeah, the main attraction today is _moi_. This assembly is all about me, Fang here, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel. You got that?" I inquired them harshly, but still enjoying every second.

Their eyes widened as they nodded and took their seats. I could feel their stares boring into my back, but hey, it was fine, if they still had that gun, I had this glass protecting me now.

I stepped up to the wooden podium after I had made my way up to the stage and silence filled the room as I tapped on the mic. Fang nodded at me and I began to speak.

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**So, I really like ragging on those three boys, because there are TONS of guys like that at my school. **

**Plus, anyone who threatens poor Ella deserves to get ragged on. ): **

**Reviews would be friggin' awesome, ya know. :)  
**


	4. You're killing your friends

**Awesome, I got reviews(: **

**Okay, this is part of the speech chapter, then theres a little more in the next. **

**I honestly feel so stupid, because EVERY CHAPTER, I forget to post: **

**"Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride." **

**So, there it is, for the first time. : D **

**Oh, I also don't own Disney. **

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"Hello, all of you," I smiled at the crowd as sweetly as I could, though I wouldn't be surprised if I had grimaced rather than grinned. "I'm Maximum Ride, and this is my flock. Yeah, you've heard of us, maybe from Fang's blog, maybe from the news, but you've never seen us in the flesh. Well, most of you." I said, glancing at the three boys in the fifth row. I cast a glance at Ella who was glancing at Iggy, smiling. I sighed inwardly, forgetting it.

"I know most of you may not care about this, but for some strange reason, even though I'm only fourteen, give or take a year, I do care about this, I guess. I mean, I'm not crazy, but I do love the planet. I want it to survive, and since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to stop by and try and convince you to care a bit, too."

I took the mic from the stand as I walked over to where everyone of my flock, except Fang, were, and stood next to them. "There's really no way to gently tell you this, but you're killing your friends." I admitted to them, completely serious. "You may not think so, but you are. You're part of global warming. Guess what our biggest enemy is in this world right now?" _Jeb. _ I thought to myself, and heard Angel giggle next to me. Fang threw her a questioning glance and smiled moments later, smirking at me. She'd obviously sent him the thought.

Oh, wait. Time to get back to the speech. "You wanna know? Global warming. What's making you kill your friends? Your contribution to global warming." I sighed. I wondered what the principal was thinking about my speech, wondering if I was being to… mean. Either way, I really didn't give a crap.

"You see all those advertisements on Disney er whatever to go green, save electricity, or something like that, so, do any of you actually listen to them? I'd guess _maybe_ twenty-five of you, if that, actually did any of that." I went on, remembering a "Pledge and something" on Disney while Ella was watching it, along with Angel.

_Wasn't it Pledge and Reg? Or… No! Reg and Pledge! _Angel sent to me with her creepy skill to send thoughts.

"I promise to Reg and Plegde on.. for… Something about the planet on which we stand." I finished, my mind confused. I didn't pay attention. My little sister watched it, not me.

Okay, I watched some of it. It was really kind of boring.

I went on. "If you all listened to Disney channel, maybe you would have a chance to save your friends from their death that you're causing. I mean, they're your friends, don't you have any respect for all they've done for you? Or are you just going to let them suffer, and not do anything?"

Suddenly, a hand raised in the second row. Fang walked up as far as he could, thanks to the glass we were encased in. "Yeah?" He asked the little girl who had her hand up.

"Well, I was wondering, if you're talking to all of us about killing our friends, then you're not just talking to me. You're talking to my friends, too. So, if you're telling me I'm killing my friends, then you're also telling my friends they're killing me. Why should I stop killing them if they're trying to kill me, too?" She asked in a sweet, yet confused voice.

I dropped my jaw. There's always a smart alec in the crowd. I think I just found one in this huge crowd. I took a minute to digest what she was saying, then Fang came and took the microphone. "What we're saying is, even though you aren't _trying_ to, you're killing them." He explained. "You don't want to kill your friends, but you are… On accident, of course. And your friends, too. If you listened… Then, well… Maybe you'd give them a longer life." He finished and handed me the microphone again.

I gaped at him. He'd almost spoken in perfect sentences. I wasn't sure if this was Fang.

But, as I was trying to process this, Nudge took the mic from me. Oh crap. This would take up the rest of our time.

"See, little girl… You're not that little, you're in at least second grade, aren't you? 'Cause you definitely too old to be young. Well, no you're not. Look, kid. Yeah, kid. Look, kid. We're all trying to save the world, is what Max is trying to say. But, we want your help too. We could probably manage on our own, but don't you want to help? I mean, sure, its no walk in the park, but at least you're not the ones who have to take it on, you can just make the choice, which I highly recommend. Apart from being scared half the time its kind of fun! I never have time to go shopping, no, but I always get to see new things, like in Antarctica, I saw these adorable penguins and other cute animals, and yeah, the killer seal was scary, but it was sooooo worth it, it was amazing down there, and it—"

Finally it was time to cut her off. I wasn't sure how long she'd rambled on, and if any of the kids had managed to understand her, but Angel had sent me a thought asking for the mic. After I took it from Nudge, Angel stepped up to take it from my hand.

"Hi, people." She smiled, and I really hoped I hadn't just given her the chance to make everyone decide to go green and not arise any suspicion from me.

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**Yes, I hate to break it to you, but you ARE killing your friends. ): **

**STOP BEING SO MEAN. **

**I like life, thank you very much. **

**I don't care if you don't. **

**I do. **

**So, REG AND PLEDGE... **

**And I seriously don't know the rest of it. **

**I know it ends in "Plant on which we stand." **

**(: **

**I'm rambling... **

**Reviews would be freakin' awesomesauce-ful. : D  
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	5. Ladies love Extreme Sports

**Hey, everyone(: **

**Heres todays update, but I'm also going to put up the next chapter. It's pretty much _allllllll_ Fax-ness. **

**So, it's not one I'm going to put up on a separate day. **

**Count down 'til some action? **

**I think four or five chapters. **

**Then after that it's action for a few chapters, then it slows down, then picks back up... **

**And... **

**I'm a rambler. d: **

**Enjoy. **

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Angel had the microphone, and I wasn't sure what I should do, so I stood there, dumbfounded.

Whoa, big word for me, huh? Oh well.

Anyways I stood there dumbfounded as Angel looked at the sea of kids from her spot on stage. "I know this may seem boring to you, as it almost does to me… Almost, but I'm seven years old, and I like playing, not being serious. But, I know when I have to be. And with this, I have to be. Saving the world is like an extreme sport. We play extreme sports all the time. So, our life is like… Saving the world and other extreme sports. And its fun, sometimes, but it would be more fun if we weren't the only ones saving the world. We need more help, and you're people who can give us help. So, 'ya know… Help us."

Yeah, this girl was hanging around Nudge too much, but at least she stopped. And at least she was pretty dang deep for a seven year old.

Next, Gazzy took the mic and I sighed. This oughtta be _great_…

"Hi, again. What's that like the fiftieth time we've said that?" He asked, annoyed by the "hi's". "But, anyways. Like my little sister just said, saving the world is an extreme sport, and for you guys out there, the ladies love men who are great at extreme sports. So, think about it this way. By going green, you're playing an extreme sport, and the ladies'll love 'ya."

I couldn't hold back my giggles, and shook with laughter. Next, Iggy took the "talking stick" as I now call it. "I completely agree with my buddy here, ladies love it. And, in case none of you know, I can't see. I'm blind, and I only hear the horrible things global warming causes. I can't see what it does to us, but it still hurts me to know everything that is being caused all thanks to stupidity."

He sighed and handed the talking stick back to me, knowing exactly where I was. Ella was giggling, and Iggy followed the sound until he was by her, and the rest of the flock, apart from me and Fang, followed.

We were all pretty deep today, I thought, but it was time to wrap this up and get back to me and Fang.

I heard Angel giggle and knew I had thought the wrong thing.

_Angel, I swear, tell Fang and you're dead_, I thought as hard as I could until I heard her voice in my head again.

_Uhm, oops? _She answered in a sweet voice, and I cast a glance at Fang next to me who was smiling at me.

_Angel, as soon as this is over you'd better _run for your life. _Got it? _ I thought again, beyond annoyed at that little twerp. I didn't get an answer back. Smart kid.

"So," I concluded lamely, not knowing what else to say. "If you've learned anything today, I hope that it's be a better person towards your friends and don't kill them."

I put the talking stick back in its stand, and we all took a bow. A thousand plus children clapped, along with teachers and staff members. Well, it was a success, I guess.

Hey, that rhymed, didn't it?

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**Okay, I know it wasn't awesome, but it was still something. d: **

**Reviews would be awesome, gracias muy mucho. o:  
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	6. I'm done running

**So, this chapter is _alllllllllllllllllll_ Fax-ness, like I said in the last chapter. **

**Yeah, its short, and so was the last one, but ... **

**Okay, theres really nothing positive about short chapters. **

**So, yeah. **

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I held my breath as I walked in the door of "my" room at my mom's house. It was there so whenever I came home I had somewhere to stay, and let me tell you, it may not have been Anne's house, but it felt more like home than hers _ever_ had.

Fang was right beside me this whole time, and as I sat on the bed, he turned the door, locked it, and sat next to me.

He was looking at me in a sweet way, a way he wouldn't look at me with others around. Then he moved… well, really fast. He had stood up, jumped back on the bed, but was laying across the bed now. I hadn't really noticed it. So, maybe he hadn't moved fast, I just didn't realize anything. Then he smirked at me.

"Soooooo…" he trailed off in a cute kind of way. "Angel told me something earlier, that you just wanted to get back to me and you?" He grinned, leaning forward, his hands clamped together, and his elbows on his knees.

I blushed, and he laughed more. Unexpectedly, he grabbed me, and pulled me on to his lap, and kissed my forehead. "I'm gonna kill that kid." I muttered, wanting to go rip Angel's head off now. I pictured that in my mind and heard a scream from the living room. From Angel. I smirked, and Fang raised an eyebrow at me.

"Mentally ripping her apart won't help. She won't come near you after you've thought that. The best way to get her is to wait until you've got her to start thinking those thoughts." Fang told me, his eyes lit with amusement. I couldn't help myself from laughing. This was one of the reasons I'd fallen in love with him, certainly.

Just then he pulled me closer, and I nestled my head into the crook of his shoulder. He sighed.

I looked up at him confused, and put my hand on his neck. "What?" I asked him as gently as I could. I could tell something was wrong, even without the sigh. He was tense. He was waiting for something… Scared of something.

"I keep waiting…" Yup, waiting for something. "I'm getting scared that…" Yup. Scared of something. Man, was I good or what? "I… I'm waiting for you to go running off again. Whenever we get close." He murmured, his forehead resting in the crook of my neck. My hand was still on his neck, so I took it off, and lifted his head.

I didn't know what to say, I wasn't good at _speaking_ gushy emotion crap. "Fang…" I whispered to him, "I'm through with running away. I can't stand my life without you, without you to love, and hold, and kiss, and hug, and…" See why I don't like talking about gushy emotion crap?

Fang was giving me a really weird look. Like I had just turned into a cat before his eyes. The look didn't last for long.

Next thing I knew, he was lifting me up, placing me back down so I was laying on top of him and he crushed his mouth against mine.

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, and one of his arms was around my waist, holding me to him while another ran up and down my back beneath my t-shirt. Frankly, I didn't mind at all. I pulled him closer to me and held him tighter, and so did he. We were crushed against each other, and our legs were intertwined, too.

Thank God he locked the door.

When we were as close as we could get, he'd freed one of his hands and tangled it into my hair. Somehow, we flipped over mid-kiss and now he was on top of me. It was late in the evening when we had come into my room, maybe eight pm. After about fifteen minutes in there, we'd started kissing. We broke apart at exactly 11:47 pm when we'd finally pulled apart and just laid there with each other, occasionally kissing for short amount of times, but man, tonight felt amazing.

Except, when I looked at the clock, now, it wasn't tonight. It was 5:23. Am. The next day. And we had just been kissing for an extensive amount of time. Again.

I closed my eyes as he began another kiss, and my thoughts were again, all on Fang. Our first kiss in this room, the one that lasted a few hours? All I had wanted was Fang. I had wanted to hold him and kiss him every minute. Every second.

But, I couldn't. So I made the best of now, since I could.

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**Okay... **

**Not really one of my favorites, but I loved the Fax-ness. **

**Even though I'd suffocate if I kissed someone that long. **

**But I kinda like the running part. **

**It was kinda sweet. **

**Review, porfavor? **

**Gracias muy mucho. (:  
**


	7. This guy is awesome, Mom

**This chapter is a little longer than the others, but it's not really all that interesting. **

**Dos boring-non-action chapters, then the third one coming has a bit of action. **

**Thanks for the reviews, guys. (: **

**Heres chapter Siete. o: **

**OH! **

**AND LOOKIE WHAT I REMEMBERED THIS TIME: **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. **

**Aren't you proud of me?  
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I curled up close to Fang, his arms around me, mine around him, and bent my head into his chest. His face was in my hair, on the top of my head, and I could feel him smirking. He'd got me to the most venerable I'd been in my life.

I didn't mind it one bit.

Now the time read 7:16, still the am, and we decided we had to get up before everyone started getting suspicious.

I sighed as I climbed out of bed and he followed, and I opened the door after turning the lock.

We walked out into the living room, and all eyes turned on us.

Our eyes were tired and sleepless, luckily not strange for us, we're always running on a small amount of sleep.

But, the part that got my mom going was the fact that she knocked on the door to say goodnight and we didn't answer. Well, guess what? Saying, "We fell asleep." Works, up until you get to the pain-in-the-butt mind reader who is cracking up.

Heres how this whole morning played out,

After me and Fang walked down the hall into the living room, all eyes turned on us. My mom's face looked impassive, but I could tell she was thinking. "Max, sweetie, why do you look like you got absolutely no sleep last night?" She asked me, and I was kinda pissed right off the back, but I kept my face composed.

"No, I slept alright. I'm sorry I fell asleep with him—" I jabbed my thumb in the direction of Fang, "in my room. We were talking, and I fell asleep, and he did, too." I was getting better at this lying thing.

My mom eyed me, then said, "I knocked on your door at about 9:30 and you didn't answer, Max."

"Yeah, we already fell asleep. We fell asleep at like, nine." I told her, growing somewhat impatient. "What do you _think _was the reason we didn't answer?" I asked her in a challenging voice.

But, that was when Angel, of course, started cracking up. Everyone looked at her as she looked at the floor, and I thought hard, _Angel, tell anyone _anything _ and you're more dead then you already are. _Her face froze and she sighed. Then a look of genuine fear came across her face and she was obviously remembering my thought from last night.

"Sorry. Max was remembering her dream from last night. She was beating Gazzy up, and she was winning." She lied and I thanked her mentally.

"Fine," my mom said at the exact same time as the Gasman exclaimed, "Hey!"

I laughed and brushed past him with barely an apology. Hey, why did I need to apologize when I didn't even have that dream?

Fang and I decided to sit in the last seat in the room, though it was a chair. I sat on the chair part while he sat on the arm rest and leaned back.

Ella and Iggy were sitting together on the loveseat, laughing and whispering to each other. My mom eyed them and sighed, she knew this was inevitable. She probably didn't mind it, but she'd be telling Ella that 'there's more than just physical pain,' soon enough.

I sighed inwardly and Fang looked at me with concerned eyes. I could feel his invisible hand rubbing reassuringly up and down my back. I sighed, audibly, now, and my mom let her eyes leave Ella and turn to me. "What is it?" My mom asked me in a sweet voice, that I knew she knew something was wrong… Ish.

"Do you remember when we were at that motel and you thought there was something going on between me and this guy?" I said, poking Fang's arm. "Well, there wasn't, but now there is, and I'm not gonna not tell you. That's rude, and mean." I sighed, and her eyes widened just a bit. She knew this had been coming even before I had, so I can't say she was surprised.

She blinked and placed the book she had been reading in her lap. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised,"Oh, who's good? "but I'm certainly shocked at how long you've kept it from me." She admitted, and I grew confused.

"What? When it first happened you had just been kidnapped." I admitted, and Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge turned their head towards me.

"_What_?" I head Gazzy asked, breathless. "When was this?"

I glared at him and turned back to my mom. "But it didn't really grow into more until the night before we got on the sub." I explained, followed by more gasps and 'whats', and _really_ hating myself right now. But, she was my mom, I had to tell her this stuff. I wish I had waited until we were alone, though. Maybe Angel made me speak without realizing it. She sent me an apologetic glance so I guessed that was it.

I sighed, not completely mad, but still kinda pissed, more at myself than her. If I hadn't been thinking about it she wouldn't have made me done it.

"Then, it kinda really all happened the day we rescued you, I guess."

Nudge giggled, "Yeah, when she attacked him before she saved Angel." I ignored her easily, and just watched my mom's face.

"Oh." She stated, simply. Had she thought we'd been together for so much longer?

Gazzy's face was still glued to mine, right now, as he asked, "Now, about this 'When it first happened you had just been kidnapped' stuff…" He asked, imitating my voice so perfectly I had to make sure Max II hadn't returned.

I sighed and ignored his pestering questions when suddenly Iggy asked, "So, now would you like to change your story of what happened in your room last night?"

I felt my face turning red, and I said "No" with a little too much force and Iggy smirked. "No, really, guys," I said with as much … Not lying-ness in my voice as I could manage.

Angel nodded, and said, "She's telling the truth, guys," and sent me a thought, _If you still kill me I'll come back from the dead just to tell them all that really happened._ And I sent her a mental smile, and she seemed satisfied.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Total spoke for the first time. "I need to get back to Aklia, when are we hitting the skies?" He asked, and I figured he'd been quiet because he'd missed her so much. It was kind of sweet, but also somewhat annoying.

I shrugged. "Whenever mom's ready. She needs to get on the plane to California." I explained, shuddering at the prospect of going to the Sunshine state(that was what it was, right? The sunny state, or whatever? Or is the Florida? Or Hawaii? Maybe California is like, the Golden state? Oh who gives a crap?!), or California, and not being at the school. Not that I _want_ to be at the school… It'll just be… Weird.

My mom looked up from her book she had resumed reading and sighed. "I'm ready, I guess. Let me call and I'll get the tickets." She announced, standing up. She was looking much better and was getting up and around more than she had been when we first came.

As she left the room it was quiet, until again, Gazzy spoke up. "Now, would you like to explain some stuff?"

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**So, no, its not the best, but blah. **

**But I'm getting pretty far in the story, story-wise and plot-wise. **

**Hoo-rah.(: xD **

**Reviews would be awesome, 'ya know. I've only told you... seven times? o:  
**


	8. You, my friend, are dead

**Here's another chapter, today, incase I can't post tomorrow. I hope I can, but I'm not sure. **

**If I can, I'll post the next one, too, and then after that we'll _finally_ have some action! **

**For now, heres another boring-ish-kinda-I-don't-know chapter. **

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After a very pestering Gazzy, me and Fang didn't have a choice, really. "We'd kissed five, maybe six times before that time on the sub." Fang shrugged, and put his arm around my shoulder. He leaned into me and his chin was resting on the top of my head lightly.

"What?!" Gazzy asked, surprised, I'd say.

I didn't want to say, and neither did Fang. Who took it over from there? Right.

Angel laughed and went on to explain. "Sure. Remember when the flyboys captured us? Like, when we went back to the school and I tricked you all? They weren't there, they were further away kissing. Fang thinks about that a lot, Max ran away. Then Max got that one chip that we thought was letting them track us out and while she was done up on drugs," Done up on drugs? I'd have to talk to this kid soon. "She had told Fang she _loooooved _him. And lots more." Ella erupted in an explosion of laughter at obvious memories of that day. Angel went on. "Then, when we reunited, Fang and Max didn't really give a crap about us, they were only happy to be back with each other. But they came around. And at the motel, they flew off together, and kissed again. Max ran off—again—and that was when she realized she'd loved him a lot. And then I remember she flew off the boat because of Fang flirting with Dr. Amazing, and he told her that 'There's a you and me, all right. There will _always_ be a you and me.' And she was mad." My cheeks went bright red when she mentioned Doctor Stupendous by my name for her. I was wondering when she was going to stop with this love story gone screwed, but she just kept going. "Then the kidnapped time was when they flew off into the desert, remember? That was when Max finally _didn't_ run away. Then, when they saved that kid on the beach after the BS—" I still laughed at that name, "—Doctor Stupendous was all over Fang and she was mad. Then Fang took her out and they kissed again. Then that brings us to the submarine."

Fang and I stared at her, our faces red with anger, and some embarrassment. Gazzy stared at Angel amazed, and Nudge, too. It was Nudge who broke the silence. "Awwwwww!" She cooed at us and ran over to hug us. "I always knew you guys weren't stupid enough to not figure it out!" I looked at her confused and Fang smirked and started stroking my hair.

"Angel," he said, and she looked at him cautiously. "you, my friend, are dead."

Angel nodded, and ran away, and he chased after her. They returned with her slung over his shoulder and her screaming laugh. He wasn't laughing, so she wasn't sure if he was serious, due to that, but he was smiling. She didn't know that. He threw her down on the couch and sat on top of her until she begged for him to get off.

I smiled at him and he got up to come and sit next to me, while Ella and Iggy kissed. Again. We both sighed, and Nudge did, too. That was out of character for her. She stood up and went into my room, closing the door behind her. Me and Fang exchanged a glance and I stood up to follow her. I told Fang to stay, I when I was down the hall I heard Gazzy messing with him about me. I rolled my eyes as I knocked on my door and went in.

The scene I saw almost made my scream. Nudge laying across my bed sobbing. Since when did she cry for no reason? "Nudge?" I called to her and she sat up. Around her eyes were red and her face was wet with tears. "What's wrong?" I asked her and walked over to hug her.

"Nothing," she lied, and I laughed lightly.

"No, what's wrong." I pressed and felt her let out another burst of tears.

"I'm so happy for you and Fang." She said, and I was confused. Did she like Fang? "And Iggy and Ella." She added. Okay, I admit I felt better that she didn't seem to only mind me and Fang. "But theres _no one_ for me." She explained, and I understood.

"I—" I began, then didn't know what to say. "Do… Do you want me to break up with Fang?" I asked her, completely serious. I didn't think I would completely, but we'd never let her know we were still more than friends.

She looked at me, horrified. "_No_!" She exclaimed, and I flinched. "I've waited too long for you two to realize you love each other," she smiled a bit. "But," she went on, "I just wish I had someone like you have Fang and Iggy has Ella…" She explained.

"You will, eventually, sweetie. But remember, you're only eleven. Me, Fang, and Iggy are fourteen. Give yourself three or four years, _then_ worry about a boyfriend." I told her in a soft voice while I rubbed her back like Fang does. It's oddly hypnotizing.

She nodded and sighed. "I'm sorry, Max. I just got carried away, I guess." I hugged her again and she wiped her face on her sleeve, then there was a voice at the door. "Yo," it said, and it was Fang.

"Come in," Nudge said for me and stood up. She sniffled and hugged me again, then went to the door to let him in. She gave me a look like, 'Have fun!', and smirked as she left.

Fang came over and sat next to me, wrapping his arms around me. "So," he started. "What was that about?" He asked, still confused.

"Me and you," I said, and he gave me a weird look. Then I went on. "And Iggy and Ella."

He nodded, understanding already. "She should give herself a few years, we're fourteen, she's eleven."

"That's what I told her," I laughed, then wrapped my arms around him, resting my head on his chest. "It's been too quiet for too long. Besides Jeb, we've just been relaxing. I want to know whats coming up to catch up, and _when _ it'll catch up. I'm scared there's something coming that'll get us back into running. No, I'm not even scared, but I'm _expecting_ it." I told him. I was scared of it, but I was expecting it. I was confused.

He nodded, again, and pulled me up on to his lap. "This isn't reassuring, but _something's_ coming. It wouldn't be life if there was nothing but relaxation in the next _month_ to come." He said, and I knew he was right. "But until whatever is coming, we should relax. It's the only down time we have." He rubbed his hands in circles in the space between my wings as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Hey, love birds!" Total yelled from outside the door, not meaning the birds part as a joke. "We're leaving in ten!"

I sighed as I heard him, but then Fang pressed his lips against mine, like it was urgent. My mind cleared and I fought the urge to sit there and kiss him forever. "Fang," I murmured against his lips, "We have to go…"

He kissed me more and broke apart, not opening his eyes. "Let them go, we can stay here…" He muttered, pulling me closer.

And didn't that sound just _amazing_? I was totally up for it until I heard footsteps, and he did, too. We pulled apart as I grabbed my bag, and he grabbed his. Iggy's was in Ella's room, and the rest of them were in the living room.

I ran out the door, bumping into Total and Ella. "Hey!" Total screeched at me, and I couldn't suppress a laugh. Ella looked at me, then Fang and giggled, then Fang looked at her.

"I wouldn't be talking, El." He said, giving her a nickname. "I can say some stuff about you, too. Angel maybe keeping quiet about me and Max, but she's said some stuff about you two."

What was with Fang, lately? He was talking in full sentences! I didn't mind, and none of the others seemed to notice. Well, at least if they did they didn't say anything.

Ella froze and looked at him, then me. She ran down the hall screaming, "Angel, you better run!"

I looked at Fang. "What's Angel been telling you about them?" I asked, stunned.

Fang smiled, one that he only smiles around me. It stopped my heart for a few beats. "Nothing."

I admit it, when he said that, I almost died of laughter. I hugged him and kissed him quickly, then grabbed his hand, running down the hall. The rest of the Fang were waiting—whoa, the rest of the _flock_ were waiting(see how much kissing him can affect me? That's why I always ran away from it… Kinda. I was _totally not scared, _though. Ha. Okay, that was a major lie.) for us. Mom and Ella were piling in the car, their luggage ready, and we all flew off to the airport.

Of course, the kids with _freaking wings_ have to fly to the airport, only to get flown! And this wasn't first class or anything, so thank God we were on there for just a couple hours. When we go off we met up with John Abate, the guy who I thought to love my mother, and Total's love's owner.

After we all ran out of the too small plane(Iggy being the only one taking his time because he couldn't run while holding hands with Ella), John found us and tossed our luggage in the… Bottoms of his car? Yeah, something lifted up giving it more space, though we still ended up overly crowded. Total and Aklia had a mushy-heart-felt reunion and they got one of the three middle seats to share. Gazzy and Angel managed to squeeze in the other two seats of the middle row, and the back was me and Fang in our own seats, holding hand and occasionally pecking our lips together gently, and Ella who was on Iggy's lap. He didn't mind.

Even with the secret compartments in the guy's van, me and Fang still had a duffel bag thrown across our lap, but whatever.

Our next stop was at the hotel we'd be staying at, some weird town name like Lamalfayette? Lafayette? Something like that. It was a relatively small town, but I didn't really mind it. It wasn't the School, so, maybe, for once, I could _enjoy_ California.

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**Okay, it's longer than the rest. **

**That _mayyyy_ be because of Angel's little rant. **

**xD **

**Reviews would be awesomely awesome greatness.  
**


	9. It's pink and poufy

**From this chapter on, its action for a few... Maybe... I don't know how long. **

**But, I'm falling behind in my writing. **

**I'm still pretty full of ideas, no matter how horrible they seem through out the story. **

**Yes, I don't think I'm that good at writing. **

**If you do, I love you. **

**If you don't, hop on. xDD **

**Soo, here 'ya go. **

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Soon after we reached the hotel, we found out that not only were three rooms reserved for us, but also that there was a _fourth_ one, too. Mom, Ella, and John in one, the guys in another, the girls in the other, and _the dogs_ got a room to their selves. Tell me this is a joke? I was stuck crammed in a queen sized bed with Nudge, who kicks like heck in her sleep, and Angel, too, when the dogs were in their own room. They couldn't even use their room on their own! They needed to be let out, needed us to turn on the tv, needed us to get them food, and what else.

Crazy world we live in today…

And obviously, with my luck, I wasn't allowed to see my "brides-maid" dress until wedding day. Anyone wanna take a guess what color it was?

If you guessed blue, you would be wrong.

If you guessed _pink_… You would be right.

I stared open mouthed at Total, eyes disbelieving. "Pink?!" I screamed at the mutt. And the dress was _poufy_, too. "Do you _want_ me to kill you?" I asked him, and he shrank back, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

Just then arms wrapped around me and I felt Fang's chin on my shoulder. "_How_ do you manage to be so _silent_?" I asked him, my heart still beating a little too fast from his… Silently scariness. Wait. That sounds weird, but you get it.

He laughed at me and kissed my cheek, then looked at the dress. "Whoa." He muttered looking at it. I held it up and realized it was _short_. Get how I'm putting talking about everything I _hate_ about the dress with emphasis? Yeah, that's 'cause I hate it. But when Fang realized it _maybe_ reached my mid-thigh he smirked. "Can't wait to see you in that."

I grimaced and darted off to the bathroom to try it on. It was tight on my skin like leather, even where it was poufy. It was like a _really tight_ leather dress with like a tutu sewn on. Total was _dead_.

I walked out of the bathroom almost twenty minutes later after I almost cried, and Fang was in his tux.

Okay, I have to admit, normally he would look fine in a tux. Its black. But his undershirt was pink, matching me. I smirked.

"I wouldn't be laughing, Ms. Tutu." He kidded with me. And I glared at him.

"It's not funny," I told him. "If I wasn't wearing this dress, you wouldn't be wearing that pink shirt. So, you lose when you laugh at me."

The light shade of pink… Was… Ugh! But, whatever. I could tough it out, then beat on everyone else later. Okay, particularly Total.

Fang laughed and pulled me into a hug, whispering into my ear, "You still look beautiful," he told me, "And I still love you."

I froze. _Whaaaaaat_? He… Just said… He loved me. I pulled back some to see if the guy I was holding in my arms was really Fang and, guess what? It was.

So, that stupid stuff I said to him while drugged up a long time ago…? Yeah, he finally said that stupid stuff back.

Then he obviously remembered that day and pulled back holding out his arms. "I love you _this much_." I hit his arm with as much force as I could manage and he held up his hands laughing. "Look, you said it first. I decided it was time I finally tell you the same." He announced then pulled me in for another hug.

I felt like I might cry, but of course, then it would only show him how happy I was that he finally said that. Ha, yeah, I'm still not a person for emotions, so all I did was smirked.

Just then a voice behind me made me jump. "Aren't you gonna tell him you love him?"

I turned around to see Angel standing behind me and glared at her. Her face looked so… So _innocent_. I wasn't sure how she was this evil. But truth was, I did love him. A lot.

"Then tell him." She said again. "Duh." And walked away.

Fang twisted me around so I was facing him, and I dug my face into his chest. "Is there something you'd like to say to me?" He asked, smirking. I dug my face into my hands and deeper into his chest. "I think there _is_ something you _really_ wanna say to me." He pressed.

I looked up some and mumbled the words, but he didn't hear me, I wasn't expecting him too. He leaned down closer and asked, "What was that?"

I muttered it again and he still didn't hear me. "Come again?" He said, and finally, I gave up. Time for everyone to know, I looked up at him my hair covering my eyes, and he brushed it aside. He was smiling at me. Not smirking, not grinning. Smiling. Suddenly, there were only three words in my mind. You. I. Love.

Not in the particular order, however.

"I love you," I blurted out as loud as I could and heard the conversation that was going on in the girls room come to an abrupt stop, then heard Iggy yell back, "Back at 'cha!" And cackle. Yeah, real mature.

Fang smiled as he leaned down to kiss me, but as his lips touched mine, the door burst open.

Wedding time?

Nah. Weddings would be too easy without a battle with some M-geeks before them.

And… Now, see, when I said the door burst open, I don't mean anything like someone turning the knob and running in. I mean, the door _burst_ open, and chunks flew, knocking me upside the head.

Twenty or more dumb-bots filled the room around me and Fang until we were barely able to move our legs. Thanks to this we resorted to bring both hands down on their heads to make them peel like an orange. Yes, we resorted to the gross way, and I've lived through a bunch, eaten rabbit, and rats, so when I say something's gross, it most likely is.

I'm guessing the rest of them had thought me and Fang just going overboard with kissing when they heard a band of a door, but finally they seemed to figure out that when you walk past a room and there's no door, you should look in, you might be surprised at what you see.

Here's what they saw: Fang and I surrounded by M-Geeks, M-Geeks surrounding us trying to kill us, or capture us, or something of that sort, and I'd really hope they saw the six machines by the door carrying three body bags.

I didn't have time to wonder who was supposed to go in those bags, my mind was too busy fighting these dumb contraptions. Soon enough, though, Gazzy and Nudge were at the door, knocking the ankles out from under these things, making a path towards me and Fang. They were doing pretty good.

Angel was hovering above the sea of 'bots occasionally thrusting herself downward with her feet hitting the dumb-bots heads, working just as effectively as the two hand chop orange thing. Eventually there were only three remaining, and Gazzy took care of them.

Where was Iggy during this whole attack, you may ask? Why, making out with Ella, of _course_!

"Report," I muttered looking around at the broken hotel room, not taking my flock in to consideration, I was too weirded out at this moment in time. Who wouldn't be?

"I'm unharmed," Nudge smiled, and Gazzy said, "Same."

I looked at Angel who was making faces at the dead M-Geeks, and obviously didn't hear my question. I couldn't blame her. She looked fine, so I turned to Fang who nodded to me. "I'm good," He answered and hugged me. "Stupid school." I heard him mutter while hugging me.

Then I heard Gazzy whispering something to Nudge, and turned to him. "Huh?" I asked, feeling like he was saying something referring to my dress.

He looked at the ground at mutter at himself, angry that he was loud enough for me to hear. "You're wearing pink…" He said, then looked at Nudge. She nodded enthusiastically and leaped over the remains of the dumb-bots to hug me.

"You look _so_ pretty!" She exclaimed, squeezing me as tight as her strength would let her. I thought she was going to break my back. But, she didn't.

"Erm- thanks." I muttered and walked over to my mom's room, she was supposed to do something to my hair.

She straightened it, so it was like.. Pointy, in a way. No, not like… sticking up and that stuff, but the ends were _straight_. Like, really. There wasn't a single curl. Or wave, in my case.

Then, we finally set off.

Whoo-hoo?

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**Hoo-rah. **

**xD **

**Uhm, yeah, the whole dress thing, its something I figured Angel, Nudge, or Total would do, and I had to put it in there, even if the story loses Total due to death. **

***cough* **

**From... **

**Someone... **

**And... **

**Yeah...? **

**Review? :D  
**


	10. Just Bait

**Okay, back to short chapters... The next chapter after this one is probably the shortest one yet. /: **

**But of course, you'll know why when you read it. **

**LOOK! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. If someone finds a way to give it to me for my birthday, I wouldn't mind... **

**I REMEMBERED IT!  
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Turns out weddings aren't that boring when the bride and groom are _dogs_. The part where they say "I do" turned into a mess, because no one understood if Aklia was yapping, "I do!" or, "Get this freakin' mutt away from me! Don't let him near me _ever_ again!"

So, of course, Angel stepped in. She confirmed Aklia was in love with the mutt, and the kiss was her licking Total's head. On cue. How she knew when to do that, I'm not quite sure. But, hey, what the hay, right?

Overall the wedding was pretty okay, and not horrible.

On the way there was… _Luxurious_, though. Yeah, whatta way to describe a stretch limousine with _three_ plasma screen TVs, two mini fridges filled with calamari and other expensive food, and … well, it was like… Amazing? I don't know.

I just wanna know where they plug the TVs and refrigerators in. I mean, don't they need electricity to work? But, then again, humans with wings? Oh, no, that's _no _ mystery compared to working electronics in a car!

The after-party/dinner/… Erm, whatchama call it was fun, though. Despite the ending.

Only a few people were there, Doctor _Stupendous_ being one of the people. But, you know what? I really don't mind since Fang wouldn't let go of my hand long enough for her to give him a bear hug like usual. I've gotta say, I'm not turning evil, but when her face turned into a frown at seeing me and Fang together, I smiled on the inside. The biggest freaking smile I could manage without showing it on the outside.

We sat and talked with her… _Fang_ sat and talked with her while I sat with him, and that's when it went downhill.

"Max!" I heard Iggy's panicked voice and sighed. "Max, Max, _MAX_!" I turned around to see him looking around frantically, and I went over to him, grabbing his hand.

"I'm here," I announced as he jumped at the touch. "What is it?" I moaned, sort of agitated at his cries. He better have a good reason for making me leave Fang alone with Doctor Amazing for any amount of time.

He swallowed, and I could tell he was trying not to cry. "Someone took Ella." He choked, and my jaw dropped. "We were walking together, on the sidewalk outside—" No, inside, I thought sarcastically. "—And I heard her gasp. Then, her hand wasn't in mine anymore, and I heard someone tell her to shut her mouth if she wanted to live, and then another voice said, 'Waitta leave little sis to the blind guy, Maximum.'" I was shaking now, and I was sure I'd break down in any second. Then I felt a tear run down my cheek.

I hadn't taken a breath since he said his first sentence, but my eyes were fogging up now. _No, stoppit_. I told myself, _This is a wedding. Be happy, if that's possible._

Then a set of strong arms were wrapped around me protectively. "What's wrong?" I heard Fang's voice in my ear, and tears spilled over the bottoms of my eyes.

"She's gone." I muttered, looking at Iggy who had tears running down his cheeks. I gasped for air, and started sobbing. I'd finally had a little sister, and now she might be dead for all I knew. At least with my mom I knew that she was most likely _alive_!

I had no idea with Ella.

Thinking as quickly as I could, I turned to Iggy, tears still running down my face. "Go tell Gazzy, tell him to tell my mom, and we'll get back to the hotel, grab our stuff and run." I told him. "We'll find her."

Iggy nodded and ran off to find his best little mutant friend while Fang took me over to the nearest table. "Calm down," he murmured reassuringly in my ear. "We'll find her; she's just bait, again. She's alive where ever she is."

I looked at him, horrified. "_Just bait_?" I asked, stunned. "This is my little _sister_! She shouldn't _be_ bait!" I screamed, realizing I was yelling at him when he was just trying to help me. He apparently didn't care. Or, maybe he was just so used to it he didn't notice.

"Max," he started, running his hand through my hair. "You know what I mean. She's alive, and they'll tell us where she is to lure us there to capture us." Well isn't that so reassuring. We'll find where she is, go there to save her, then _we_ die. Yipee.

"I know, I'm sor—" I started to Fang, but Gazzy's yelling cut me off.

"Max!" He screamed. "Iggy… He says we'll never find Ella and that he'd rather be dead than live without her."

"Oh shoot," I muttered. "Okay, where is he now?" I asked, ready to try and talk Iggy out of being emo.

Gazzy looked at me, his eyes wide. "He flew off. He's gone."

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**Okay, if I get like, two or three or four reviews in an hour or two I'll put up the short chapter. **

**Its kinda good, kinda bad. **

**Just like this whole story. **

**Anyways. **

**Cliffy(: **

**I love Iggy... But he's nothing without Ella. **

**And he's very pessimistic. D: **

**Review, porfavor?  
**


	11. I never even said goodbye

**Hmm... **

**Okay, only three people reviewed, but I'm home, I'm sick, and I'm bored. **

**This one made me a little sad to write. **

**LOOKIE AGAIN! **

**Disclaimer: You know what I don't own here, and what James Patterson _does_ own... **

**I'm proud. Two chapters in a row! **

**

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**

_**IGGY'S POV.**_

I felt the warmth of the setting sun on my back as I navigated my way towards the nearest cliff. I'm not sure _how_ I got myself there, but I did, using the creepy way the bird kids do.

I landed, coming to a running stop, and tucked in my wings. I stepped with caution around the cliff, making sure I didn't go over, but wanting to find the ledge.

I was good at this, I'd done it thousands of times before when we were on the run. I saw everything with everything but my eyes. I saw with my nose, ears, hands, everything. Right now, I was using my toes as my eyes. I found the edge and sat down, cautiously, my mind spinning. _Why_ must I be blind? It was so unfair, and it just possibly killed Ella.

Ella.

We hadn't known each other for long, maybe a few months at most. But it was love at first sight. Okay, not sight, but you know what I mean. I still remember that day…

**(A/N: This is a flashback.) **

"Okay everyone, food's up!" Doctor Martinez called, and a Mexican aroma filled the air around us all.

After finding out this woman was Max's mom, they flew right out to Arizona. Jeb had beat us, but what the heck.

We all sat at her dining room table, which I might add, was pretty dang small.

"Oh, man!" I moaned, waiting to dig in to the food. "This smells _so_ good!"

Then Max's sister's voice spoke up. "It's so amazing, how you can do that," she stated, referring to how I could eat, and do things like a normal person even though I couldn't see with my eyes.

"I've had a lot of practice," I mumbled, and I could feel my cheeks heating up, but I stopped them.

"Well, I think you're amazing," Ella declared, and now I couldn't help my cheeks from flaring red.

I muttered a thanks, and somehow, in this three sentence conversation, someone had made me feel amazing, loved, and … Not useless. And my heart beat just a bit faster every time I remembered that she was a real person, and that maybe, just maybe, she really _did _think I was amazing.

I think I was in love.

**(A/N: This isn't a flashback anymore.) **

Remembering the first day I ever met Ella, I felt tears spill out of my eyes.

I never even got to say good-bye.

Not to her or anyone else.

If I couldn't say good-bye to Ella, I didn't want anyone else to hear me say it. Ella deserved it most.

I was done with this.

Pulled myself back up onto the ledge and stood up. I took seven steps away from the edge, turned back the other direction, ran those seven steps back, and threw myself over the cliff edge.

This time, I didn't let my wings out. Instead, I pulled them in close, and just let myself fall.

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***sniffle* **

***clings to Iggy* **

**NO!**

**I love Iggy. **

**Why am I trying to kill him?! **

**Because it goes along with the plot, of course. **

**Unfortunately. **

**D: **

**Reviews?  
**


	12. I can't believe it

**Okay, I really don't like this chapter, because there were a lot of things that were really hard to explain. **

**You'll probably hate it, too. **

**You'll be like... **

**WHAT THE HECK, COURTNI?!?!?!?! **

**And I'll be like... **

**I'M SORRY. JUST BE HAPPY YOU'RE ALIVE! **

**And you'll be confused. **

**Right? **

**Right. **

**Oh, and I'm really sick. I have pink eye, and I'm pretty sure I have swine flu again. ))): **

**Boo. ): **

**But, on the plus side, I can write more of the story because my mom is scared of coming near me incase I give her pink eye. :DD  
**

**DISCLAIMER: You know what goes here. **

**(I'm getting good at remembering this!) **

**

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MAX'S POV.

My heart raced as Gazzy told me this, and I wasn't sure _what_ to do.

Would Iggy seriously try to kill himself? Is that what he planned?

I thought about it, and decided, yes. Unfortunately. So, I thought of _how_ he could commit suicide. Knifes, guns, cliffs, and… how else? Eating a pound of salt?

I decided Fang and I would go to the nearest cliff while sending the rest home to make sure he wasn't stabbing himself.

Barking out the orders, I wiped my eyes clear of tears and threw myself in the air. Using our ah-mazing navigation skills, we found a cliff in about five minutes. Just in time to see—

Oh, god. Oh, crap. What was he _doing_?!

Fang noticed this, too, and we went down. But we were too late. Iggy had thrown himself over the cliff and was free falling. And his wings were invisible against his back.

Oh, god. What was I going to do? Stare like a deer in headlights? No, maybe if I wasn't Maximum Ride, that would be an acceptable answer, but I _was_ Maximum, and one of my flock were about to splat.

Laying on the speed, I flew towards Iggy. I can fly faster than I can fall, so I used that to my advantage.

He was a good hundred feet from the ground and I was about two feet away from him. "Iggy!" I screeched as loud as I possibly could. I dropped down in front of him and grabbed him, just as he unfurled his wings.

"Ow!" I screamed, my arm shouting with pain when his wing opened on it. I felt a crack and screamed in pain, when on his upstroke, his wing hit my chin, not with so much power, but my arm had already made my vision darken, and the little slap on my face barely even hurt.

I didn't even feel it.

But I did realize I was free falling, not flapping, and Fang was screaming my name from above.

I was falling. I was relaxed. And then everything went blank, and my mind was… blank.

FANG'S POV.

"Max!" I yelled, tucking in my wings. I was about twenty feet away when Iggy snapped out his wings and—somehow – hurt Max's arm. Sure, when you open your wings suddenly they catch the wind, but for Max's arm to be right near the one as it opened was pure bad luck. Beyond bad luck. 'Cause now, it was dangling backwards, her elbow going every which way. Ouch.

But now I had to save her from splatting on the cold rock below her. Iggy was unaware of what was going on, but he was dead. _Dead_. I would kill him.

No, it wasn't his fault he hurt Max, but if he hadn't been trying to kill himself, this wouldn't have happened!

About fifty to seventy-five feet from the ground, I reached her, dropping down below her some to catch her.

Unfortunately, her wings were out, and I couldn't hold her right, so I just flew up, her wings hanging below her and me. "Iggy, get a move on." I snapped at him, flying in the direction of our hotel.

I looked down at Max's face, trying not to scream in frustration. The only thing that was keeping me from breaking under her weight—not that she was fat or anything—was knowing that if I fell, so did she.

Refraining myself from swearing, I leaned down carefully to press my lips to hers, and listening to her soft but pained breathing.

When we were over the woods next to the hotel, I took a running landing, followed by Iggy, and folded in my wings. Then, gently leaning her up against a tree, I delicately patted in her wings, and she shrieked in pain.

When I got them in, I picked her back up and ran through the automatic sliding doors in the front and up the stairs. I was on the second floor, now, and ran down the hall, looking for our room number. "Two-fourteen, two-fourteen, two-fourteen…" I muttered to myself, breathing out in relief when I found it. I knocked on the door with my head, unable to use either of my hands.

Next thing I knew, Nudge was at the door, smiling. Then she saw Max. "Fang! What ha—"

I cut her off, pushing past her.

Placing Max on the bed as softly as I could, I stretched my sore arms, then looked around for her mom. "Doctor Martinez!" I called, becoming frantic. I knew she would live, she _had_ too, and it was just her arm, but her arm was bleeding. A lot. And I'd just noticed. Right where she had tried to cut the chip out on the other arm. There was a chunk of flesh missing. I hoped I hadn't done that somehow. She could bleed to death, but she wasn't going to. Right?

"What, Fang?" Doctor Martinez asked as she came out of the bathroom, her hair wet. Then she froze. "What happened?" She exclaimed, running over to Max, and I was about to explain when Iggy walked in. His face was wet, and his eyes were red, but I didn't have time to feel bad.

I launched into an explanation of what happened while everyone listened carefully, looking at Iggy when he was mentioned.

This, however, brought new tears to his eyes, and I sighed. Iggy hardly ever cried. I really had no idea what to say or do. Max was always the one to comfort people, I was the one to comfort her. So, I turned around and planted myself in the arm chair, trying to think of what could have happened where she was bleeding.

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**HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT **

**HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT **

**HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT **

**HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT ****HATE IT **

**It's really weird, I guess. **

**Don't you agree? **

**I might put up the next chapter later just to give you guys an acutal decent chapter. .-. **

**I don't know. **

**Review?  
**


	13. Wake Up Call

**Okay, I'm putting up the next chapter. Obviously. **

**To: **Sareen **; Ella is 12 and a half, if you look on Wikipedia("**Ella is the daughter of Dr. Martinez and the half sister of Max. She is 12 and a half years old.**")** **it says that, so, I'm basing it off of that. (:  
**

**Also, thanks to my other faithful reviewers who will be mentioned in the chapters to come. (: **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. Nor do I own Fang... D: **

**(I REMEMBERED. AGAINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! :D) **

**

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**

MAX'S POV.

I heard a moan, and let's just say, I've been waking up so many times to myself moaning in pain that whenever it happens I just know it's me.

I wasn't sure what happened, and my mind was foggy, so I tried to sit up.

Oops.

I pushed off on my right arm and screamed in pain. I felt tears running down my cheeks, already, and I knew this was probably the worst break I'd acquired over my fourteen years of life. I tried pushing up with my left, and thankfully, I didn't scream out in pain, this time.

I blinked my eyes open, and turned to my right. Fang was sitting on the other side of the bed, looking at me with a concerned expression. I looked at the clock. _Hmm… 3:24…_ "Is it AM or PM?" I asked Fang, my voice strained.

"AM," He answered softly, and my eyes widened. It was about six when Iggy disappeared. "The others are in the girls room," he told me, just as I began to wonder where they were. "The new one, without the M-Geeks, of course."

I nodded, and he scooted closer to me, careful not to jostle my arm. It was in an ACE bandage, wrapped from my wrist to my mid-upper arm. I looked at it, and tried to go through what happened in my mind, and remembered. Iggy had opened his wings while I was trying to save him from killing himself. "Fang… Iggy, is…" I trailed off, nervous. "Is he okay?"

Fang nodded and put his arms around me, avoiding my crippled arm. He knew what was coming. Because as soon as I remembered Iggy and the cliff, I would have to remember _why_ Iggy jumped off.

And it hit me. Ella was gone, and we didn't know if she was alive. My sister. My best human friend. Ella. Iggy's girlfriend. My mom's daughter. _My_. _Sister_.

I drew in a ragged breath, my arm still throbbing, but I ignored it, and dug my face in Fang's chest. "Ella… Ella… Why did they have to take her, Fang?" I asked, though I knew he wouldn't have the answer.

I felt him shrug and his hand began rubbing up and down my arm. "It's okay, we're going to find her, I promise."

I looked up at him, unsure, and he looked back down at me, his black eyes determined and soft. I didn't have to ask how, because when he looked at me like that… It only made sense he was right.

Then he leaned down and kissed me, and I put my unharmed arm behind his neck. We sat like that for God knows how long, but when we broke apart, I noticed something else.

"Why is this covered in blood?" I asked, looking at the arm that was bandaged and the bed spread beneath it.

He looked at the blood and shrugged. "I don't know. All I can think of is that when I was putting your wings in you hit your arm on the tree and caught a sharp piece of bark and cut it." He guessed, and then he shrugged. I nodded and sighed. Boy, was this world _trying_ to kill me or just doing a good job? Or both?

We sat there in silence for a long time, apparently, and I think he ever fell asleep.

A long while later the phone rang and I answered. It was our wake-up call.

"Hello, this is the front desk calling for your 7:15 wake up call." A voice said.

"Alright, thank you." I muttered into the receiver and sighed. After they said good-bye I hung up and poked Fang. "Hey, you up?" I asked him in a soft voice and he nodded. He opened his eyes and stood up, coming around to my side to help me up.

When I stood up, I realized how dizzy I was, and almost fell back on to the bed, but Fang held me up right so I didn't. I looked at him, wondering how horrible I looked, and he took me over to a mirror in the bathroom. Sure enough, my hair was a mess, which was nothing new, but my face was red, my eyes were blood shot, and I was still wearing the pink dress. Then I noticed black trails on my face. I tried rubbing it off, and it came off. Hmm…

I looked at him, pointing to the black stuff. "What's this?" I asked, confused.

He smirked. "I think that's called _make-up_, Max." Oh. Right. Make-up.

I was forced to wear it at the wedding , but there was no way I ever would again. Maybe to another wedding, but only if I liked that person.

I grabbed a white washcloth and dampened it, then wiped my face. When I was done it was all black where I had used it and I smirked. The hotel people must love us. A ruined room, black washcloths, bloody bed sheets…

A knock brought me back to life and Fang walked over to open the door.

"Fang!" I heard a voice scream, and almost screamed back. I saw a flash of red hair hugging Fang tightly, and my throat tightened.

Hey there, Doctor Amazing.

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**Okay, so, nothing really happens in this chapter, eh?  
**

**Beside when the devil comes back at the end. **

**I think James Patterson makes the girls Max(and most of the MR readers) red-haired so they're like... Evil or something. Read hair makes me think of someone with like, a head with flames as hair if the person is mean. **

**They could easily relate to the devil. **

**I think thats why. Don't you? **

**Reviews are amazing. :D  
**


	14. Fortyfive minutes

**Hey, guys. **

**I'm still sick. D: **

**I've had a lot of time to write, thanks to that... However, I have a Spanish project due tomorrow, and English due Thursday. **

**Luckily English won't be that bad, see as I'm doing my project on TAE(: **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. D: Dangit... **

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"Hey, Brigid," Fang sighed as he pried her arms off him.

That's my boy.

He looked in at me, standing over the bathroom counter using my left arm to brush my hair and untangle the mess.

"Fang, I heard about Max, is she okay? Oh, and Ella, I can't believe that happened! And Iggy, he was _crying_! I can't believe it! I always thought he was like… Incapable of crying!" I looked out the door and shot Fang a confused glare.

He nodded. "Max is okay." I walked out of the bathroom to stand by his side and he nodded again. "Yeah."

Yeah what? Yeah to Ella or Iggy? Or the crying? Or… What?

"Oh, Max!" Brigid murmured, and I guessed she didn't think I could see when she practically tackled _my_ boyfriend. Whoa. Boyfriend. My mind stuttered for a second then worked properly again.

"Hey," I said coolly as Fang wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed my messy hair. She hesitated for a minute and I smiled on the inside. "Look, it's really nice seeing you, but I gotta go see Iggy and my flock and my mom." I said in one breath easily.

Then Fang looked at me. "No offense, but aren't you going to change?" He asked, and I remembered I was wearing the dress still.

I looked down laughing, then nodded. "Yeah. Forgot about that." I muttered, and turned to my bag. Fang turned to Brigid and shooed her away. She wasn't so fast to go, though.

"Would Doctor Martinez allow you two to be in the same room while one of you changes?" She asked, obviously trying to come up with an excuse to get Fang alone. My jaw tightened.

"We're not kids, Brigid. Plus she needs help." He told her, getting annoyed. I was already annoyed. Her obsession with Fang plus thinking we would be stupid or whatever was running through her mind? Ugh.

She nodded and walked out the door, shutting it behind her. Fang turned to me, shaking his head, smiling. But I wasn't ready to smile, just yet.

"Why didn't you tell me? About Iggy crying?" I asked him confused.

He matched my look easily and sighed. "It didn't come up, and it wouldn't have helped you. He misses her, more than you know, and he knows it's _his_ fault you're arm is like this."

"Whaaaaat?" I asked, beyond confused. "How is this his fault?"

He really looked like he was losing patience. "If he hadn't been trying to _freaking kill himself_, you wouldn't have had to save him." He told me, his face not far from mine.

"Oh." Was all I could say. I never thought about it that way.

But, now that I knew that I smiled. "Okay. Thanks for getting rid of Brigid, by the way. I really wanna get out of this room. If she stayed I'd be stuck in here forever." I laughed, and he knew that was just an excuse for me being happy she was gone, but he didn't say anything.

"Let's just go," He smiled, and helped me get out of the skin-tight dress. He'd already grabbed a pair of my jeans, skinny jeans that my mom got me a while ago, and a blue shirt. Unfortunately, when you can't move your right arm, you can't put on pants _or_ a shirt.

When he saw my struggling with the jeans, he walked over and grabbed a belt loop on the right side, while I pulled up on the left side. Then my shirt… Was just… An _epic failure_. I tried shoving my head through the arm holes several times, and pulling the shirt over my bad arm. Finally, Fang gave pity on me and grabbed the shirt, first putting the bad arm through, then my head, then my other arm. Then he pulled it down over my stomach and smirked.

"Congratz," He chuckled, pointing to the clock. "You wasted forty-five minutes."

I looked at him and hit him with my left hand and he grinned. Finally, finally, _finally_, we walked out the doors and to the dining room, where everyone was sitting. Except Ella. I held my breath and Fang rubbed circles on the back of my hand with his thumb, attempting to calm me down. Then Iggy got up.

Quickly, he covered the distance in his magical way to know where everything is. "Max, I'm so sorry." He muttered, and I heard him say other stuff like, "so stupid," "Ella," "saved my life," "I can't believe it," "I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry," and so on.

I cut him off. "Iggy, shut up." I said, trying to stop the tears. "It's not your fault no matter what you think. It wasn't your fault she was taken, and it's not your fault you love her so much. Truth is, I'd do the same thing if anything like that happened to Fang. Heck, if anyone tried to stop me I wouldn't stop, I'd take them with me," I said, and felt Fang's gaze turn on me. "It's fine, and just worry about staying alive, so when we find Ella you two can have a mushy reunion that will make me wanna hurl." I told him, and I saw him smile. I hugged him gently, not using my bad arm, and he smiled bigger.

"'Kay." He smiled and went to sit back down. Me and Fang walked up to the breakfast buffet and he grabbed two plates, and put two packs of cereal on both, along with a bagel, and banana, and apple. He carried it over one of the tables that were empty, and we both started our meals, Brigid watching us closely.

"No offense, Fang, but your _girlfriend_ need to stop obsessing over you." I hissed so only he could hear, and he glanced over at Doctor Amazing.

Then he looked back at me and smiled. "You're obsessing over me, then?" He asked me, amused. I sighed.

"You know who I mean." I muttered, and looked back at her. She was too interested in Fang she didn't even notice my glare. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders like he had before when she was there and smirked.

"You mean you, of course. I only _have_ one girlfriend, and I only _want_ one girlfriend." He grinned. "That's you." Then, even though we were in front of everyone, including my mom, he leaned in and kissed me. Then, I swear I wasn't imagining this, a tear rolled down Doctor Stupendous' cheek(at least I hoped that was what that was).

I think I smiled a bit.

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**Okay, so yeah, I always thought Brigid was like, _obsessed_ with Fang, so thats how I'm portraying her. **

**Reviews, please? :D **

**I really like them, just so 'ya know... (:  
**


	15. Anonymous

**Hi, there. I'm still sick. Yipee...... **

**Anyways.  
**

**Okay, this is a short chapter. **

**Like, less than 500 words. ))): **

**But I the a few chapters after this is Nudge's POV. **

**And it's a like, three of four pages on my word document. (: **

**So, the chapters coming are going to make up for this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or Fang's Blog... Or Fang. D: **

**

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**

**You are reading Fang's Blog. Welcome!  
Date: **Already Too Late!  
**You are visitor number: **187,903

**Well this isn't very fun. **

Yo. Guess I could start out by saying that Total and Aklia's wedding went… Horribly? Sure, it was fine for a while, especially when Max wore a pink tutu dress, but then someone came and kid-napped Max's little sis, Ella. Also the girl Iggy's going crazy about. We're not sure where she is, but there are some pictures up, keep a look out for the girl from the pictures.

We're on the move again, since they obviously knew where we were. We're not sure where we're heading, and even if we did we wouldn't tell anyone. We're going a bit crazy over trying to find Ella, so watch out, like I said.

I really don't have more to say, so for now, I'm out.

Fang.

As me and Fang scrolled through the comments, we got kind of bored. People leave obsessive comments, I learned.

But as soon as we were about to shut it down, there was a final comment.

**Anonymous  
** Still looking for little sis? Maybe you should try Colorado Mountains. Can't guarantee you'll live, but if you want her alive, try around there, maybe. Ha. Try not to be stupid. And if I may; _good luck_, little mutants.

I tried as hard as I could to control myself, I really did. But knowing she was alive, and Fang was right about them using her as _bait_? I wasn't sure how else I was supposed to react.

But then I laughed. The person who sent this was obviously trying to sound like a menace. And they sounded far from it. Like, oh my goodness! Someone told us where my sister was! And threatened to kill me! And then laughed! And told me to not be stupid! And wished me luck!

Wow, like I hadn't heard any of that before. Yeah, I'd _never_ heard anyone threaten to kill us. Or call us mutants! This person must be diabolical!

So we sent out a message to all the kids, just like Fang had done when I was captured by the Director so long ago...

Yo. People in or around Colorado Mountains, take a quick look around for any hide outs; don't get too close, but they're hiding Ella there. If you see her don't tell anyone. At all. We'll find a way to find out who you are, if we can trust you, and all that other wonderful crap us kids gotta worry about.

After we hit send, I almost couldn't breathe. We were getting closer to finding Ella… But maybe also closer to our death. I didn't know if I should be scared or not. I was saving Ella, it was for the best.

Right?

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**Short-ness! **

**Oh, and by the way, the traffic for this story has gone WAYY downhill. /: **

**I don't know how much longer I'll be writing this story... **

**One day one I had over two hundered VISITORS view it, and over 400 Hits. **

**No I have no more than 150 visitors on a GOOD day, and it's usually about 25-50 people on a normal day. **

**I don't know, really. **

**If you don't want me to stop the story, review. **

**Even if you do want me to stop, review... **

**xDD **

**I'll at least post through what I have done(Chapter 29), but it's roughly a 50-70(maybe+) chapter story in my head... **

**So, review. **

**Even if it's one word. Even if it's saying I suck at writing. Even if it's saying you hate me. Even if it's anything. **

**Just let me know what you think. d: **

**REVIEW.  
**


	16. Picture Prefect Picture

**So, thanks for all the reviews. **

**I guess this means I'll keep going. (: **

**Also, in this one class today we were talking about perseverance and not letting anything get in our way and make us give up. **

**I think that's a sign that I should keep writing. (: **

**So, thanks everyone. (: **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, though I do own the FREAKIN' LONG ESSAY I HAFFTA WRITE FOR ENGLISH ABOUT TAE! **

**.-. **

**Some Advice: Shall you chose to do character description on Maximum Ride, do not use TAE, for it severely takes effect when you have to write at least two pages on three characters. .-. **

**And here is the chapter... **

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The next morning we were flying back to Arizona, us with our wings, my mom and John and Brigid and Total and Aklia and… Well, a few other CSM members. They were all staying at my mom's house until we got Ella back.

Apparently, John Abate had asked my mom on a date. I can't say I was surprised, but a step-dad possibility? Hello? I was a little busy here to be happy, let alone have another nagging parent. Not that my mom was naggy, she just worried about me, even when I'd survived this long on my own.

"Max?" I heard Nudge ask from across the line of us. It was me and Fang(him hovering over me gently, maybe a foot above me, our wings moved in synch), then Iggy to our left, then Gazzy, then Nudge, then Angel.

"Yeah, sweetie?" I asked her over the wind. We were only a few miles out of my mom's town and we'd been airborne for… No longer than four or five hours.

She looked down at the ground. "Do we have any food?" She asked, and I knew that wasn't what she really wanted to ask.

"Yeah, gimme a sec." I told her, and Fang reached into my backpack for some fruit snacks, and we passed them down the line. She mumbled thanks and I thought hard. _Angel?_ I called through my mind.

_She's scared for Ella, and she feels bad for Iggy. She wanted to know if you really thought we'll find Ella, but didn't want to upset him,_ she sent to me in her creepy way.

'_Kay._ I nodded and kept flying. "We're almost there, guys." I said so they could all hear me and they nodded. "Iggy, seven more miles than at two o'clock, got it?" I asked, and he nodded.

Within just … maybe two minutes, we were landing in the trees outside of our small town house. My mom had given me a key to the house so we walked in easily, even though their plane had just taken off. We were going to rest up tonight then head off to save Ella first thing tomorrow.

We were all in the living room while Angel and Gazzy sat on the floor watching TV, Nudge was talking to Iggy enthusiastically, probably trying to distract him from the disaster waiting to happen, and Fang and I sat in the armchair, but I sat on his lap, rather than the arm rest.

"How are we supposed to find her?" I muttered, and then sighed. I was resting my head on Fang's shoulder and his hand was stroking my hair gently. Our foreheads were touching as we talked, that way we could have a private conversation and the others had no chance of hearing us.

Fang shrugged, and I felt him squeeze the hand he was holding. "She's alright, Max. I know that for a fact. I _know_ they wouldn't kill her—couldn't kill her—even if they wanted. Someone is behind this, and whoever it is, _somehow_ I assume Jeb got himself involved. He wouldn't let anyone bring harm to your half-sister."

I looked up at him. Fang was so… Not Fang lately. Sure, he always comforted me, but this was going beyond himself. Maybe it was the fact he had me now; the fact I was his forever and he knew it… And _I_ knew it. No one else would ever have me. Fang had grabbed me from the very beginning, in a way, and he had been holding on all this time. I was relieved he never really gave up.

I nodded into his shoulder at his words and wrapped my good arm around his chest and laid the other one across it gently, his one hand still smoothed through my hair and the other one rubbed my arm that was still bandaged up. Soon we were closing our eyes and dozing off… Almost. Then there was a flash, and I even saw it when my eyes were closed.

My eyes flew open and I saw Gazzy giggling and running away and then looked at Fang's face. We both started to get up at the same time, but it took him longer since I had been on his lap.

"Gazzy!" I screeched, chasing after him in the direction he had run, and I realized he was heading out the back door. Too easy!

He clicked the door open and flung it open, running out into the grass. Unfortunately, for him, while we were gone, there had been a rain storm, and now the grass was partly mud.

Which he ran straight into.

"Iggy!" He yelled from the ground, and Iggy ran out to Gazzy's voice. "Save the blackmail!" He laughed and tossed the camera over my head.

Unfortunately, again for Gazzy, Fang was right by the door, so he jumped up and grabbed the camera before Iggy could. Then Fang smirked at me and I smiled, running over to him. We scanned through the pictures only to find our picture-perfect cuddling photographed.

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**So, a little hint: **

**This chapter is needed in order for the next chapter. **

**Otherwise I'd totally ditch this chapter since it seems so meaningless. **

**Well, meaningless-ish. **

**Some chapters in all books seem meaningless... **

**SO WHATEVER. **

**Reviews, porfavor? **

**Keep me positive I'll keep writing? (: **

**No, I am not using Gazzy's blackmail tactic. **

***cough cough* **

**At all. d: **

**Stop thinking I am and click the gosh darn review button. d:  
**


	17. Email

**Wheeee. **

**I'm sick. Again. And I just got over being sick. **

**.-. **

**This sucks. **

**But anyways. **

**Heres the next chapter. **

**Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah. I don't own what I wish I own, nor do I own tinypic. **

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"Max," Gazzy whined as I searched the camera's booklet to learn how to delete a picture. Usually there's like, a trash can button, right? There wasn't on this one. "Why do you want to delete it so bad? You said it was picture perfect!"

I froze. _No,_ _I _thought_ it was picture perfect._ Could Gazzy read minds like Angel could, now? "No, I _thought_ that. Can you read minds?" I joked but was partially serious.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't hear you think it, but I thought you said it…"

Turns out, he could communicate with Angel telepathically(and read her mind even when she didn't want him to), now. Well _that's_ nothing to be scared of. And, in a way, he could read minds, now, thanks to Angel's power being part of her mind which he could see.

Oh, and now, Angel could send pictures. Isn't that wonderful? I mean, nothing like a good old picture of me and Fang half-asleep. Thanks to this new skill, Iggy would find a way to tell us to 'get a room' a whole lot more. But, unless we were outside, we _were_ in a room. Take that, Iggy.

We were all sitting around the kitchen now, still trying to figure out how to delete a stupid picture, when my mom and the rest got home. John Abate was right behind her as she entered the room, and Brigid followed them.

She avoided eye contact with Fang, but she sent me an apologetic glance. Maybe Fang would forgive her. Maybe not. Either way, if she tried to make a move with him, it'd be the last move of her life.

"Hello," John smiled as he walked in behind mom. "Check your blog, Fang, there's a comment on there… That I really think you guys should look at."

I looked at him, then the laptop. "We already saw the location," I told him, thinking he meant that. But then he shook his head and my mom told me to just get on the dang computer and look.

So, Fang opened the computer, flipped the screen on and waited for it to come on. When it did, we went to his blog and searched through the comments.

**HiMyNameIs__  
Hey, check your email.**

So, we did just that. It might be a trap, or something, but we needed as much help as we could right now.

_Hey, this is important_.

That was the subject.

So, we clicked on it.

_Hey, Fang. Lemme say it straight out. I found Ella, but I'm twelve. There's no other way I could tell you. I would've waited, but she looked pretty bad. There were these robot things around here, I _think_ that's what they were, at least… And then two guys. They're in a cave in the Colorado Mountains. This is just for proof: _

He gave us a link to tinypic(isn't that a funny site name?) and sure enough, Ella was there. There was another link below it with a picture of the boy, with a sign saying, "I am Sean, this is proof I'm no traitor."

I laughed and sighed. That kid was either really smart and was proving he wouldn't kill us, or he was one of Their sons who was being forced to do that. In the second case, he would be dead. In the first case, I would love him. Then I looked around, and Nudge's jaw was dropped. It was her, "Dude, that kid is _sooooo_ cute!" face, and I laughed, again.

"So, what do you guys think?" I asked, looking at all of them. Angel had sent Iggy the picture of Ella and he took a gulp of breath and hissed.

"We have to save her," He snarled at me, "What do you _mean_ 'what do you think?'"

Fang glared at him, but it was wasted. Wait. No it wasn't. _Angel, _I thought, then nodded at Fang. She knew what I meant, and smiled. Just then Iggy flinched a bit. Fang looked at me then and laughed, and nodded. "I think we kind of have to," He admitted, grimacing. "As much as I hate it, it could be our only chance." He told me and looked back at the screen. "What should I say back?" He asked and I thought.

"Tell him we need to meet him somewhere, and he needs to point us in the direction to go, so he doesn't get hurt." I was surprised I was worrying about protecting some kid I didn't even know, and so was Fang. He gave me a weird looked, then shrugged, and then typed. "Also tell him if he's not a liar, the flock owes him, and if he is a liar, he owes us. With his life, of course."

Just then he looked up at me. "Uhm, I'll leave that part out for now." He muttered and started typing again. Finally he stopped, and let me read it over.

_Yo, _

_Sean, right? Yeah, thanks. We're going to meet you somewhere a few miles away from the cave, but you'll need to tell us where. We don't want you in the fight, getting hurt and all that jazz. If you're not lying, and you really found her, dang, we owe you. For now, we'll stay here until you tell us where to meet you. We'll tell you when we'll meet you there, so get back to us. Soon. Pronto. ASAP. Don't wait. _

_Thanks, _

_Fang and the flock. _

I nodded and he clicked send.

We were this much closer to getting Ella back.

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**Reviews = Greatness. **

**(:  
**


	18. Meeting that one kid

**Don't you guys just _love_ me? **

**I'm usually one to update daily, not make you wait five or six or seven days. **

**As I read more stories, I realize how much I wish other people were like me. **

**Especially with cliff hangers. D: **

**Okay, why I haven't updated? **

**I'm still sick, and now I have this medicine I have to take for FOURTEEN DAYS. **

**If I'm still sick after that, I'll sue the person who gave me the prescription. **

**ALSO, FanFiction wouldn't accept my file. .-. **

**Finally, today, it did. Yayyy. **

**So, here is Chapter 18. (: **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Maximum Ride, Fang(D: ), Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, or Angel. I do own my brother.  
**

**But in this story, he's younger. **

**But he's still beastly strong like he is now. **

**(Oh, by the way, Sean is my brother.)  
**

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Almost ten minutes later, Sean had emailed back.

_Look, I'm not lying. I promise. I'm an twelve year old kid. But I went back after the email. You guys have to get here. Meet me at my house, you don't have to come in, but the cave is a mile or two out from it. When you're here, I'll lead you there. I have a fort out there(sure, call me a geek), so I'll just hide out there. _

He left us an address and we looked at my mom. She was driving out tomorrow, and we were to stay somewhere near the house. I felt like she was holding something back from us, but I wasn't sure. So, we just set off.

"Bye, sweetie. I'll see you soon." She told me as she hugged me tight.

To my delight Brigid didn't hug Fang, she simply smiled at him and waved. He smirked back and waved. If he was going to forgive her… I swear…

I let my thoughts float away when we hit the skies, and in our freaky, amazing, awesome way, we flew to Sean's house.

"Relax," Fang told me, obviously noticing the tension making me stiff. He reached down to run his fingers through my hair, which was in better shape than usual. "We're saving your sister. Aren't you happy?"

I looked at him. "Of course I am!" I snapped, feeling guilty as soon as I realized how forceful it sounded. "I'm just scared." I admitted, low enough so no one else could hear. "Whoever got her, it means there are still people coming after us. Who else is there?" I asked, my voice sounded utterly defeated.

He reached for my hand. I gave him it, and he squeezed it. "There is everyone, Max. Face it. I'm not a pessimist," He promised, "But until the world is saved, we're still in danger."

I knew he was right, so I just nodded.

It was silent for a while, then we realized we were in the town. Sheesh. Time is flying, lately, ain't it? Well, we were almost there. Then, we _were_ there. We were in front of Sean's house, and of course Nudge ran up to the door and rang the doorbell. We all hold our breath, then, before we knew it, the kid from the picture was at the door.

We sighed in relief that we didn't have to deal with his parents.

Nudge was grinning, and Sean smiled back. He was thin, but strong looking, tall, and he was pretty darn adorable. Not in a Fang way, but in a little boy kinda way. He was maybe an inch or a few taller than Nudge, even with our freakishly tall selves.

"You're Sean, right?" She asked and he nodded.

"Let me see if I can get this right," He said. "Angel," he pointed at Angel. "Iggy," He pointed to Iggy. "Gazzy…?" He asked, pointing at Gazzy. The Gasman nodded. "Max and Fang," He pointed us out together, then turned back to Nudge. "And you're Nudge." He smirked, and she nodded.

Oh jeez. Hadn't I just told Nudge a few days ago she didn't need a boyfriend for a few years? Well, I guess, as long as he's not lying about Ella, they would be a really cute couple.

Suddenly Sean called into his house to his parents, saying he was going out in the woods for a while. When they said okay, he ran around the house and we followed. "Okay, we're going on foot, because it's open to the sky. If they saw you flying they could easily shoot you." He told us, and I nodded, wondering how this little kid realized that.

"Smart thinking," I complimented him and he smirked. He and Nudge ran next to each other, every once in a while glancing at each other and smiling. I really hoped he wasn't lying. Not just for our lives, but also for Nudge. If he was she would be heartbroken.

"Almost there," Sean called, and we all nodded. We'd been going at a steady jog for maybe a mile and a half to two miles. None of us were out of breath, not even Sean. Weird.

This kid was freakishly in shape. And tall. And he looked like he had muscles. Add on some wings and a built in expiration date and he could be a bird-kid!

Of course, we just had to hope he'd live after today to be _any_ kind of kid.

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**Ta-da. **

**What do you guys think about me writing a full out Fax story? **

**With chapters an stuff? **

**They would be twenty-one years old. **

**I already started it, I just want opinions on whether I should bother putting it up. **

**(: **

**Reviews = Happiness. **

**I don't get much happiness. **

**I'm a vegetarian so I can't get happy meals. .-. **

**So I need happiness supplied in other ways. **

**I would very much enjoy if you could supply some by clicking a green button... **

**Oh, and don't forget to tell me about the Fax story(((:  
**


	19. BOOM

**Okay, so, the original chapter was SHORTSHORTSHORTTTTTTTTTT! **

**So, I combined it with the next one. (: **

**Sorry I haven't updated, lately. D: **

**Disclaimer: I plan on dressing up as James Patterson for Halloween next year so I can own Maximum Ride for a day. **

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Hey, what do you know? The kid wasn't lying after all! Guess what that meant?

Yup! We found Ella. We found her, and we weren't dead.

Now all we have to do is _rescue_ her and not be dead. That'll go over greatly, no?

You're right. I should shut up and just get on with it. So I will. And here's how it played out.

Sean hid in his fort, when I noticed Gazzy was carrying a—you guessed it—bomb. 'Cause I mean, if Gazzy didn't have one on him then life wouldn't be stable, now would it?

We stopped at a dip in the ground and started discussing our plan. 'Ya know? What we would do? Guess what? I had none. Nothing. Zip. Nada. And Ella was depending on me, Iggy was, the flock was, and _everyone_ was. Sometimes it felt like too much.

Angel sent me a sympathetic glance and I grimaced. Waitta think about never having a plan around the freakin' _mind reader_ who _looks up to you_!

"Yo. Here's the plan," I murmured in a low voice to the others. "Iggy, you're gonna run in with us, but you're going to grab Ella, run out the cave, and take three steps, go straight up, then fly seven o'clock for a mile, and you're at Sean's fort. Got it?" He nodded and I looked at the others. "Gazzy, why you have the bomb, I really don't want to know…" I hesitated before I asked, "Will it make a big enough explosion?"

That was when his face completely… Froze. His jaw was dropped and he was staring at me. I'd never permitted him to use a bomb, so I could see why he was in shock. "Yeah…" He told me, then added on, "Iggy and I worked on it for this…" He admitted, and I nodded. For once, I really didn't care.

Then I gave up on a plan. We'd just have to rely on the bomb. "Ig, go as fast as you can, and don't let anything stop you," I whispered as we were nearing the deep carved cave. Maybe this would be just as easy as I thought it would be. Then I moved my arm.

My mouth gasped open but I refrained myself from crying out.

Or maybe it'd be even harder than I would've ever guessed. We'd find out soon enough.

Now we were at the entrance, and we were inside. "Ella!" I heard Iggy cry and she yelled his name back. He followed her voice, found her, grabbed her by the waist, and carried her out the cave, flying straight up. Now it was up to us.

"Angel," I called to her, then thought, _See if you can control these guys, and get them to tell us what we need to know. Or, of course, just read their minds, but the first is more convenient. _

She nodded, then squinted just a little, but soon enough the two men had frozen, and we're speaking.

"I'm Tom. This is Ron." Tom muttered, pointing to Ron. "The Director and ter Borcht sent us on a mission to capture you all and kill you all. We cannot fail this. If we go back empty handed we will be killed and others will come in search." Just then, Angel relaxed her face, but the rest of her body filled with tension.

Tom looked around confused, and Ron just stared at Tom. "Why did you give us away?!" He exclaimed, kicking dirt at the other man.

"You didn't try and stop me," Tom pointed out defiantly, and I nodded to Gazzy. These grown men were like sisters fighting.

All of us backed away, except Gazzy. "Hey, look… Sorry to interrupt, but we'll help the Director, a bit, and just kill you now…" He told them, then tossed the bomb in the air, and he _ran_. I mean, you think you know what I meant by '_ran_'? Well, let me tell you. You don't.

He dove into our hiding spot as the cave lit up and then _BOOM!!_

Rocks fell, covering the entrance.

Well, gee, this day is just turning in our favor. It was so painfully simple.

They were dead, Tom and Ron. There was no way they could've survived. Nor the some hundred flyboys they were keeping. It was all done, now. At least, until the Director sent out another pair of evil guys to catch me and the flock.

But now we had to get back to Iggy, Ella, and Nudge needed to get back to Sean.

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We landed a mile(about a minute or less) later, and headed into the hidden cave. Inside, Sean was lighting a fire for us, and Iggy was holding Ella close while she sobbed on his chest.

Nudge was the first inside, trotting over to the boy crouched over the beginning flames, and he smiled up at her. "Hey," He smiled, and she grinned back.

"Hi!"

I saw her smiled get even wider as he got the fire going and they launched into conversation, and I toned them out. Then I walked over to Ella and Iggy, smirking at him when I realized how happy he was. I was so using this next time he told Fang and I to get a room. I mean, we weren't even that bad! Like, really? What's wrong with cuddling? He was sitting here cuddling with his girlfriend.

It still felt weird saying boyfriend and girlfriend. We always said brother and sister. Lately we'd been rarely saying either of those two words.

"Ella?" I called to her softly. "You're safe, you're okay. Calm down."

She looked up to see who was talking. Well, don't I feel so dang special? My own sister doesn't even know my own voice. But, then again so much has gone on maybe she was just looking up to make sure that it really was me and I hadn't become one of Them. "Oh, Max!" She sobbed and tried to stand up, falling to her knees within a matter of seconds. I ran over to her, wrapping my arms around her in a tight embrace.

"Ella," I choked. "What happened?"

She pulled back, wincing in immense pain at how tightly I held her, to look at me and put her head in her hands, and that's when Iggy joined us again. "Max," she murmured, looking me in the eye. "It was _horrible_. They gave me two cups of water a day, and no food. If I didn't answer a question, they would have one of those things hurt me. Real bad." She told me, and I started noticing bruises on her arms.

Iggy tightened his jaw and wrapped his arm around her gently, as if not to hit any sore spots. "Max, look," he told me, though I wasn't sure how he knew I should look, pointing to her thighs, yellow from older bruises, black from new ones, and scratches up and down her legs. Her whole body was covered, and I rejoiced in our luck. We'd come just in time. She might've been dead by the next day. They were brutal to her. The only place bruises didn't cover was her upper stomach and chest.

I looked at her face, again, with a black eye, a cut forehead, and a fat lip. "How did they manage to do this?" I questioned, completely and utterly horrified.

She shuddered a few times, due to sobs, and held on to Iggy. "They would ask me a question about you guys. Weaknesses and such. And more. And they would talk to me. I never replied to them, I was too scared, and freaking for you guys." She explained, and now Nudge, Sean, Gazzy, and Angel were listening, too. "And when I didn't talk, those _things_ would either kick me, slap me, or sometimes even throw me up against the wall." Her eyes filled with pain as she thought about it and she shuddered again. "I'd never been so happy to hear Iggy's voice. I thought I was dead; in heaven. But I realized I wasn't when he picked me up and I still felt pain when his arms pushed against the bruises." She then experimentally poked at one of the deep cuts surrounded by a black bruise and winced. Iggy felt her twitch and he delicately laid his arm around her waist, barely touching it.

"It's alright, Ella," He crooned to her ever so softly. "We're here, and you're safe."

Then she looked at him and nodded. She grabbed a fist full of his shirt and pulled herself close, wincing whenever she hit a tender bruise. Then her eyes opened wide. "Who's that?" She asked, shrinking against Iggy, who held her still.

I looked over by Nudge, and saw Sean, smiling and talking to Nudge. Well, listening to Nudge. He almost seemed perfect for her; he hadn't told her to shut up, he hadn't run away, and he really seemed to like her. Already. "That's Sean," I told her, waving him and Nudge over to us. Ella's natural reaction was to snuggle closer to Iggy and try to move away. What had they done to my sister that made her scared of _everyone_?

"Hi, Ella!" Nudge exclaimed walking over, Sean right behind her. "This is Sean. He helped us save you. He emailed us and told us that he found you, so we flew out here. He led us to you and he was here when you got here. I guess you didn't see him, though, or something, because I heard you ask who he was. He's really nice, too. I mean, usually others would run away from us, 'ya know? But he's still here with us, and helping us! Isn't it great? He's so—"

"Nudge!" I screamed and she stopped.

"Oops. Sorry!" She said then slapped her hand over her mouth. Sean laughed and smiled at her and she smiled back up at him. It was still weird seeing someone taller than her, yet the same age.

Angel came over then, followed by her older brother, Gazzy. "He's not, Ella." She reassured her. What she was reassuring her of I was clueless.

_She was wondering if he was one of Them_. Angel told me in my head.

I nodded absent mindedly until I realized how weird that might look. "Ella, you're safe now. We're here, and we wouldn't ever let anyone hurt you." I told her, lightly placing my hand on her knee. She flinched visibly and I sighed. How long will it take her to get back to normal? I turned to Angel, hoping she could tell me what was wrong.

_I really think she's just in pain and doesn't want anyone else to hurt her. I can feel the pain in my mind, Max. It hurts. _Angel told me. I was completely shocked.

_How can you feel her pain?_ I asked unable to stop myself.

_She's thinking about how much it hurts. And whenever that happens she thinks about it more until it hurts me. She doesn't know, and I'm trying to shut her out but I can't, I'm too scared to. _She sighed in my head.

_Angel, if it's affecting you just get out of her head. _I thought hard and saw her nod a small nod. I saw her relax and stretch, as if she was sore. Then Gazzy walked over to Ella and gently sat cross-legged next to her saying nothing.

"Erm, hi." Sean finally said and Ella looked up. She tried to wave but winced in pain. Nudge smiled at her and waved, but she was quiet and looked at me.

"Max?" She asked me. "Can me and Sean go outside? I'll watch out for Flyboys, I promise! They're loud enough to hear, and if we're in the trees they'll be really bad at maneuvering and stuff, right?"

"Sure, sweetie," I answered and exchanged a glance with Fang. He wasn't revealing any emotions.

He was such a pain in the butt sometimes.

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**REVIEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW(: **

**I get this really should've been an action chapter, but I really wasn't in the mood when I was writing this. **

**So, action will come up soon. **

**REVIEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW(:  
**


	20. Sean

**So, hai. **

**Not much to say besides I love my best friend. **

**Today we took her home from school, and we went on a little field trip. While we were out, her mom called and asked where she was. She said in a car. Her mom asked something like "Why?" or something, and she was like... **

**"Well, the man told me he had candy. He had StarBursts. I friggen love StarBursts." **

**Her mom flipped out. **

**I love her(: **

**Disclaimer: I own Sean, his mom, and the plot. (: **

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Nudge's POV

I smiled when Max said yes then I grabbed Sean's hand and pulled him out the entrance. "Come on!" I smiled then looked back. Our faces were like mirrors, except I think my smile may have been a bit bigger.

I went to let go of his hand once we were in the trees but he looked at me. "Hey, I liked it like that!" He joked with me and I laughed, grabbing his hand again. "I like your laugh, too," He said seriously. I couldn't help but laugh again. "It sounds so relaxing to me. Like, some people find bird chirping relaxing but you're laugh is really nice, too." He admitted and guess what I did? I laughed. Again.

"I like you," I stated simply, and I felt weird stopping after just saying that sentence. It was like I needed to say more, but I knew in my mind I didn't. I turned to him when he stopped walking. He was smiling, and his teeth were perfectly white.

"Really?" He asked me, grabbing my other hand.

Then I nodded and spread my arms out as far as I could, still holding his hands. "I like you _this_ much." I told him and laughed. If Max or Fang were here I'd have about three second left to live. Sean smiled at me and leaned in. Oh jeez. Was he going to kiss me? We'd known each other for one day! But he was _sooo_ nice! I mean, he was indescribable. I couldn't describe it. The indescribability. So, rather than rejecting him when he pressed his lips to mine I stood on my tippy-toes so we were the same height, and I wrapped my arms around his neck like Max always did with Fang when they kissed.

I had to admit, I can't blame them for always wanting to kiss. It was amazing. I mean, I know I'm only eleven, but I bet I'm older mentally than all of you. Like, really. If age was mental, then kissing Sean would be illegal, right now, 'cause I would like, be over eighteen, so if I kissed him I'd be like a pedophile or whatever you called them. That made me happy age isn't mental, though, because I really liked this kid.

A few minutes later we pulled apart and I dropped back down so I was standing flat on the ground and he smiled. "Wow." He said, staring in my eyes.

I had to admit, Fang was really cute, but this boy was somehow ten times cuter. He had wavy dark blonde hair that fell to right about his eyes, and he had blue-ish gray eyes. He was an inch or two taller than me and he had _mus-kles_! Lots of them.

He decided we should go back to his house to let his parents know he was 'sleeping out beneath the stars'; they didn't know he had a fort, so if he wanted to get away he could. He also wanted me to see his parents, and he planned on grabbing some food, blankets, and pillows for all of us. He was considerate, too! Man, I was totally rubbing this in Max's face.

But, then again Fang was alright, too. He really loved Max. A lot. Did you know that? It was like… Like she was his world. Yeah, cheesy, but he's said that to her before. Pshh. And they thought I couldn't act. I can fake sleep, FTI(for their information)!

We were at Sean's house now, and he walked straight in the door. It was awkward following, but I did anyways. "This is my house." He told me waving his arm around the room.

"Wow!" I breathed out. "It's so amazing! It's so much like a house!" Then I realized it was. "Oops. Well, I mean, I've never really been in a lot of houses besides Doctor Martinez's, Max's mom's. And Ella's mom's." I admitted, looking around, poking everything I saw. At one point I saw a button and hesitated.

Sean came up behind me. "Go ahead," he urged me, and so I pushed it. I was so scared a cage was going to fall down, trapping me that I shrank back to Sean. But, instead, the TV that was on in the other room turned off. I heard his mom curse and he laughed. "I wired the TV so whenever I pushed this button or the button in my room, the TV would turn off. My parents get mad every time it happens, but sometimes the things they watch are _really_ annoying. And, as a bonus, they have no idea about these buttons."

Oh, god. This boy and Iggy and Gazzy would be best friends. The one thing they had most in common? Trying to piss off the people who were in charge of them. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Sean?" I heard his mom call and he grabbed my hand, dragging me into the living room, as he called it.

"Yeah?" He asked, letting go of my hand just before we came into her sight.

She looked up then back down, then did a double take. "Hey, honey. Who's this?"

I looked at him and he nodded. "I'm Nudge," I smiled at her when I turned back to look at her. She was really, very pretty. She wasn't tall, but she wasn't short. She was about Sean's height. She had really short auburn hair that was wavy and layered, which made it curl upwards. It's prettier than it sounds. She had green eyes and was fair-skinned and she was really thin. She was maybe in her mid-thirties, I would guess.

"Hi, Nudge." She smiled and stood up to come and join us. "I'm Mrs. Black, Sean's mom. Did you just move here? Or have you lived here and Sean was just keeping quiet about you?" She laughed and shot a quick glance at Sean. I looked at him unsure what to say.

"Mom?" Sean spoke up, and she turned her head towards him. "Do you remember all those reports about those bird kids from a while ago?" He asked and I stared at him. He was serious? He was about to tell his mom that I was a bird-kid? I was a _mutant-freak_?!

She nodded and he continued. "This is one of them." He told her, and her eyes widened. She turned he eyes towards me and her jaw dropped, realizing her son wasn't lying. "Their leader, Max, has a sister. Who isn't a bird-kid, and she was kid-napped. I found her in a cave and promised to help them, and I helped save her." He announced proudly and I nodded. He wasn't at all like I had thought he would be like. I was _glad_ he was _better_ than I thought!

"Oh." Mrs. Black breathed out. "Oh, my…"

"Yup." I said. Whoaaaaaa. One word? What was going on? "Yeah, well, 'ya see… Me and Sean came to get some blankets and pillows… I mean, if you don't mind. We're sleeping out in the… forest," I said, covering up the fact Sean had a place he could run to when his parents got on his nerves. "I don't want to be rude. At _all_. 'Cause you're really sweet and stuff. But, see, Max is kind of like, 'ya know? Protective? And if I'm gone for a really long time she'll start to freak out. And I love Max, and I don't want to make her have a heart attack because I'm gone for too long," I admitted and stopped talking.

Then Sean spoke up again. "I'm going to stay out there with them, Mom. I've never really got to sleep under the stars and I think it would be nice. You don't have to worry, the flock can protect me."

This boy. This boy was _perfect_ for me. I mean, he was cute, he was nice, he was funny, he was sweet, he was… Everything. He was even sneaky.

She hesitated then nodded, warning him to come back if anything happened, and he quickly agreed. We ran up the steps that were right behind us after that and into what I expect to be his room. It looked like it was something like Fang and Iggy's dream rooms combined. "Okay, you grab the pillows over there," he pointed to the corner on his bed where about fifty pillows were piled up, "and put them in here."

He handed me a really big garbage bag and I started stuffing all of the pillows in it. He was reaching up in his closet grabbing what looked like a few comforters and sheets, and also a few thick blankets.

After we were both carrying the bags over our shoulders, making us look like Santa, I might add, we headed down the steps. "Hey, Mom," Sean called in the living room, "We're gonna take some food, too. They haven't eaten today."

I caught a sympathetic glance as we passed the opening to the living room, but we kept going down the hall to the kitchen. I ignored it. "'Ya know, you're mom seems really nice, but I mean she's totally sad for me. It's not fair. I'm just a normal kid, aren't I? Okay, I know I'm not completely normal, but it's not like I'm going to die tomorrow. I hope. I really hope. But still, when people feel bad for me I feel so underestimated. Why can't I be a girl and be strong and tough and smart and determined and courageous and brave and whatever else, too? Max is, even though she doesn't act as much as a girl like me, but she is still beautiful, like a girl should be, and no one ever underestimates her. Well, besides the School and all of our enemies, they really underestimate her and think they can beat her, but they never do, I mean, haven't they learned by now that she isn't as weak as they think she is? She's proven it so many times and they just keep thinking she's some little gir—"

The next thing I knew his lips were against mine, and I couldn't talk anymore. I didn't mind. I just relaxed, wrapping my arms around his neck, and he put his around my waist. We both tilted our heads to deepen the kiss, and well… It was just like heaven. He was smiling now, I could feel it in the kiss, but we still didn't pull apart. I pulled myself closer to him and stood on my tippy-toes so he didn't have to bend down as far.

Then, guess what happened?

The door burst open with a loud _bang_ against the wall.

Oh jeez. What now?

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	21. The Voice?

**Wheeeeeeee. **

**So, I've updated my other two stories, and I realized... WAIT! WHAT ABOUT LAtW?!?!?! **

**So, here's your update. **

**I really should be working on finishing this story up. I'm getting closer to the end(: **

**Not on here, of course. I have forty-one chapters written. I think... **

**Nope. thirty-eight. My bad. **

**But still. **

**Disclaimer: I only own Sean. **

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MAX'S POV

I looked at Angel who was twirling around Sean's fort absent mindedly. Next thing I knew she was on the ground, face first. "Hey!" She shrieked, thinking someone tripped her. Then she looked down and saw a pile of rocks at her feet and blushed in embarrassment. "Oops," she muttered then pulled herself back up to her feet.

Nudge and Sean had left for a walk a few minutes ago, but unfortunately, I had a feeling they weren't only going to walk. They were really cute as a couple(if they were…), I have to admit that. But when it's time to go, Nudge won't be very happy.

I stood up and went to sit against the back corner of the larger-than-normal cave and sat down, resting my head against the wall. Fang had silently walked over, so quiet I was close to swearing when he pulled me closer, avoiding my injured arm. "How is your arm?" He asked me, toying with the fingers gently.

"In pain," I admitted, not bothering to lie to him. It was throbbing, still. It had been since I woke up in the hotel room.

I snuggled in to Fang, and he wrapped his arm around me. "What are we doing after we get Ella back to your house?" He asked me, knowing that I needed a plan before everyone else started asking me.

I thought really hard, but I couldn't come up with much. "I don't know, but we can't stay there. The Director is after us again, and she has many ways of getting us. But she's not stupid enough to use Ella or Mom as bait if she has no way to let us _know_ they're being held. And if we're on the run, they'll have no way to tell us, so they'll come straight for us."

Fang nodded against my head and sighed. "I wish saving the world were easy." He admitted, and I turned my head to stare at him. "Not that I can't take it. It's just annoying. Whenever you're in danger I kinda get a little protective. I get scared, I guess." I kept staring at him. Then I stretched myself out so I was laying down, and I used Fang's lap as a pillow.

"Hmmm…" I murmured closing my eyes for a few seconds. "Fang the Amazing? Scared? Since when does that occur?" I asked, completely amazed he had said 'I' and 'scared'(without the denying of the fact) in the same sentence.

"Fang the Amazing gets scared ever since Max the Great has been scaring him. Starting with that idiotic move on the beach." He told me, referring to when I almost killed myself, had he not shown up in time. The stupid chip that I'd had removed a while ago hadn't been out at that time, and the Voice was ragging on me. "Speaking of that time on the beach… Where is the voice?" Good 'ol Fang, knowing exactly what I'm thinking.

I shrugged. I didn't mind that the Voice in my head wasn't ragging at me every spare second it could. "Don't know, don't care." I muttered, knowing that wasn't the complete truth. I did care where it was. Without my voice I didn't have anything to rag on in my spare time.

He snorted and I opened my eyes. "You know you care where it went. You may be happy it's gone, but you know you're at least dying to know what happened to it."

I looked at him confused. "How did you know? I didn't have my eyes open, you couldn't have gotten it from them. Was Angel…?" I trailed of, looking towards Angel who was drawing in the dirt.

He sighed. "No, I just _know _you, Max. You're the kind of person who may be relieved to have something gone, but if you don't know where or why it's gone, you want to know. It's that simple."

"Are you saying I'm simple?" I asked, really confused. Others always told me I was confusing, hard to understand and all that stuff. He'd even said that to me a few times. Heck, he'd called me things from amazing to a pain.

He wrapped me in his arms gently and smirked. "I never said that, I said _it's_ simple. That specific quality of yours. If you weren't curious I'd have to make sure Max II hadn't come back."

I nodded and sighed. Then I realized it was oddly quiet. "Where's Nudge?" I yawned, my eyes closed tightly. I didn't bother opening them again, I was way too tired. I felt him shrug, and I had no reply. I was already half asleep when I had asked. "Fang?" I murmured, forcing myself to speak though I could barely find my mouth.

"Huh?" He sighed, and I felt him look down at me.

"I love you." I told him, and took myself closer to him, the pain in my arm dull from my drowsiness.

"Love you, too." He told me as he kissed my forehead.

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	22. Arguement

**'Kay. **

**So, this chapter is back and forth. She hasn't really figured anything out, yet. **

**Neither have I. Which is why she hasn't. **

**Disclaimer: I own Sean. **

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NUDGE'S POV.

I pulled away from Sean as fast as I could and went in to defense mode. Sean leaned around the corner, sighing with relief. "Don't worry. It's only my dad… He… Gets mad at that door a lot…" He explained to me, finishing packing the last of the food.

I nodded and relaxed. Hah! I over reacted. And now I felt like an idiot! "Ohmygosh!" I breathed out. "I totally freaked there for a second. I feel so stupid! You're dad's really strong, though. I guess I know where you got that from, right?" I smiled and continued. "But really, I think we need to get back to the flock, now, don't you? They're probably freezing and wondering where I am. At least, I hope they are, otherwise I'll feel un-special. Do you think I'm un-spe—"

He pressed his lips to mine again, but pulled back faster than he did last time. "Let's just _go_," he smiled at me, grabbing the garbage bag and the food bag. "Bye Mom, bye Dad!" he called running out the door, and thanks to my raptor hearing I heard his dad ask what was going on, but it faded as I was listening to his mom explain.

"'Ya know…" I started, trailing off, "I think the flock will like you. A lot! You know how to get me to shut up. Like, really. They've all been looking for like an off button since I could talk. Then of course you find it the day you meet me! How ironic is that?! Fang will like, _worship_ you for all of eternity and everyone else will just be like, 'Sean, we love you!'" I laughed and he joined in.

"I don't do it to make you shut up," he told me. "I kiss you because I like you. But I know it will shut you up. And when you're talking about random things I guess I listen to your voice, 'cause I love it, then I kiss you, 'cause I love you."

Whoa. He loved me? In a weird way I think I loved him. But we were only kids! We weren't even teenagers, yet! No one would take us seriously! But I really did love Sean. He was what I had been looking for, and I couldn't believe I actually found someone like him. I smiled over at him, not quite ready to say the words back, if he even meant the words seriously, which I hoped he didn't, because I needed to get to know him more, but I don't think he did mean it seriously, so instead I said, "We're almost there! Race?" And he nodded. Of course, I won, but only by a few seconds. If I didn't know any better I would say this kid was a mutant.

When he reached me he was partially out of breath, due to carrying about two hundred pounds while sprinting. Okay, not two hundred pounds, obviously, but a lot. As he caught his breath I pointed inside and he nodded, walking in beside me. "Hi, guys!" I called as we entered. "Look what we brought! Oh, wait you can't see yet. Well, we brought lots of pillows. And blankets. And _food_. Isn't that awesome? He's so nice, isn't he? I mean Sean, of course. He's so considerate and stuff, 'ya know? I mean he's only known us a day but he's already helping us and I mean, that's really really really nice! I—"

"Sean, can you shut her up?" I looked at Angel, and I screamed, "No!" _Not_ in front of Max just yet.

I leaned over to explain that in his ear and he smiled. Max was giving me a weird look as she lifted herself from the ground. "Where did you guys get all this stuff?" She asked cautiously. Max, Max, Max. Always worrying.

"My house." Sean answered and I nodded.

"He has these two buttons, and if you push them, the TV goes on and off. His parents get really mad at the TV but they never know it's actually him that's doing it. Isn't that _awesome_? I mean, like, his mom is really nice, but I think it's really funny! Don't yo—"

Humph. I was getting cut off a lot. Thankfully it wasn't by him kissing me, rather than just putting his hand over my mouth. I looked at him and smiled under his hand, and I dropped the pillow bag. I took his hand off my mouth, though I didn't let it go. "Pillows, anyone?"

Sean dropped the bag full of blankets, then he dropped the food. "Uhm, I take it you guys are sort of hungry?" He asked, dumping out the bag of food. Inside was bread, lunch meats, cheese, dressing, hot dogs, hot dog buns, and a few boxes of cereal. We all stared at him, then I about tackled him.

"Holy crap, Sean!" I screamed then hugged him. I saw Max look at Angel, and a few second later her jaw tightened. Oh fudge. Hey! That rhymes with my name! Nudge, fudge. Nudge, fudge. Nudgie, Fudgie. Nudgey-wudgy-fudgy. Nudge loves fud—

"Can I talk to you, Nudge?" Max called walking out of the cave. I followed her out cautiously, being careful not to come within her reach.

"Yeah, Max?" I asked when we were a safe distance from the cave.

"Nudge, you realize we have to leave eventually. Probably tomorrow, but if not tomorrow, at least the day after," she explained, and I had a feeling I knew where she was going with this. "Angel told me er… You and Sean kissed. Is that true?"

I looked at Max, not sure what to say. She just talked to me about this maybe a week ago. Maybe less. I'm not sure, our lives kind of blend together day to day. I cried because I had no one but she had Fang and Iggy had Ella. I was jealous. But now I wasn't. Me and Sean could fight, we could end up hating each other, but we didn't now. "Yes, but listen, I really like him, and he really likes me. If you're going to tell me I'm falling too hard, too fast, forget it. If I am, I'll find out eventually. So whatever. You and Fang got together spontaneously. Well, Fang tried to, but it wasn't slow. Okay, so you've known each other your whole life, but what difference does it make? I mean, really?"

She stared at me, her face incredulous. "It makes _all_ the difference, Nudge! Plus, you're just hurting yourself! Do you not realize _what_ I _meant_ when I said we have to leave? I meant: We can't take Sean with us. You may never see him again. What happens if he moves or something, you come back when we're done saving the world, and he's not there? How will you find him again? It's not like you can wait for him and he can wait for you, Nudge!"

I froze, not knowing what to say. So instead, I knelt down, shoved my face in my hands, and started to cry. "Max, I don't _know_. I _do_ know we both really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, _really_ like each other. It's not fair that we can't be together because _you're _destined to save the world! That destiny never said _anything_ about me! Why can't I stay here with him? Oh, right, because you can't let go of me. It's not fair that Iggy has Ella who is at least in contact with us, and you have Fang who is always with us! I finally find someone and you want me to just stop liking him! Why?! What is so wrong with him?" I cried, looking up at her. She was being so unfair, and it's not my fault.

"Nudge…" She whispered looking at me. "You have so many years to find someone else, and possibly find him again…" She murmured walking over to hug me.

"_What_?" I hissed, glaring at her. "I don't want to _possibly_ find him again! I _want_ him. I don't want _anyone_ else. You telling me this is like me saying, 'Oh, if Fang dies you still have the rest of your life to find someone new or find that by some miracle he's really alive, still.'" I said that and… Well, let's just say I regretted it.

So, yes, me and Sean cared about each other… But Max and Fang just went about caring. Yeah, they were boyfriend and girlfriend, but it's like they were _made_ for the other one. Angel told me Max had suffered when Fang left us. I knew she loved him, so did everyone else… Except her. It wasn't natural for her to be away from him, and she just _hated_ it.

"Nudge…" Max muttered, her eyes flaring momentarily. "Are you saying you want to leave the flock to be with a boy you've known for _one_ freaking _day_?!" Her voice asked, thick with venom. Okay, so my whole 'Fang' card hadn't worked. Then I sighed. I knew I was over reacting, but I really didn't want to leave Sean. Okay, I'd known him for a day, but he just seemed absolutely _perfect_ for me. If I was wrong, I could always leave him and join the flock again.

I looked down at the ground for a few seconds then back up at her. "You know what? Maybe that's what I _am_ saying!" I hissed at her, making her flinch. "If this is how you're going to treat me for the rest of my life, not giving me a chance to _live_ my life, maybe that _is_ what I want! Yeah, I've known him for 'one freaking day'," I said, making air quotes around the last three words, "But its been the _best_ one freaking day of my _freaking life_. I don't want to leave him to just get captured and not know if I'll ever see him again. C'mon, Max. How did you feel when Fang left you? You hated it, and don't tell me you didn't. Angel was with us. She showed me. Do really want to put _me_ through that? Against my _will_?"

She looked thoughtful for a minute, then she sighed. I'd really hit a sore spot with all this talk about Fang. "Listen," she finally said. "You'll have nowhere to stay if you leave us to stay with Sean. It's not like his parents will let some girl come live in their house who they've never even met before. With us you'll be safe and protected—"

"Hah!" I snorted out of character. "On the run I'm 'safe and protected'? Where have you been the past… What? Year? I'm anything but safe when we're on the run. What if that sniper from D.C. had aimed for you but hit me instead? That's not very safe. It's just not fair, Max. If you ever knew how I felt you might understand it. But you don't, you have Fang, you always will. Iggy has Ella, he always will. I have Sean, I might lose him. All because you." I finished, leaving her and walking back to the cave. She didn't bother following me, but I heard her sit on the debris-littered ground.

In about two minutes I was back at the cave, Fang leaning against the back wall. "Where's Max?" He asked as soon as he saw she wasn't with me. I jabbed my thumb behind me and he nodded then walked out the entrance into the woods.

I walked over to sit by Sean, and I hugged his left arm as tight as I could and I put my head on his shoulder. "Hey," he said, smiling at me.

"Hi," I grimaced. I wasn't in a good mood.

"What's wrong?"

"Ugh, Max. We have to leave soon, but I don't want to. I want to stay here and be with you, but there's no way I could. And then I said some really mean stuff to her, but I had no idea what else to do, and I just don't want to leave you, 'cause I might never be able to find you again, and I really really really really really really really really like you, and I don't know what to do so I'm just really confused and hurt and so much that I can't put into words right this second besides I know I really like you and you seem like you're perfect for me and I don't wanna leave you at all in case I lose you and," I gasped for breath in the middle of my non-terminating sentence and picked up again, "I'm just scared because I hate being on the run 'cause it scares me and it's just terrible and people are always after us and I just wish there was some way I could stay here and prove Max wrong that we both really like each other… You do really like me, right?"

He chuckled at my monologue and looked at me. "Yes, I really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really like you, as you put it. And I want you to stay here, too. It's not like you can't, is it? I don't want to lose you, either, and I don't know how I can hold on to you when you're gone…" Okay. So, we were young. But we had time to figure everything out. We really liked each other. If in time we _stopped_ liking each other, then we stop liking each other. For now, we did. I was so confused.

I looked at him, his blue-ish gray eyes unreadable as he leaned in closer. Then his lips were against mine again, for the fourth time tonight and I immediately forgot what I was going to say.

All I knew was I really didn't want to leave him, and when the time came, I didn't know if I'd be able to.

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	23. Here comes goodbye?

**This chapter is pretty much the ending of the fight in Max's POV, and then a little more at the end. **

**The next chapter was amazingly short, so I added it on to this one. Yay. **

**And also, everyone has been commenting about how Nudge is too young to be kissing. One, I disagree, because she is almost twelve. I know tons of people who had their first kiss at eleven or twelve. Okay, so it IS pretty young, but Sean is almost thirteen in this story. You'll see some of this stuff in the up coming chapters. A bunch of stuff.  
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**Disclaimer: I own Sean, Mrs. Black, and the plot. **

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"Nudge…" I whispered, I wasn't sure what else to do at this point. "You have so many years to find someone else, and possibly find him again…" I told her, walking over to hug her.

"_What_?" Her voice was a snarl and I almost flinched. Almost. "I don't want to _possibly_ find him again! I _want_ him. I don't want _anyone_ else. You telling me this is like me saying, 'Oh, if Fang dies you still have the rest of your life to find someone new or find that by some miracle he's really alive, still.'"

I froze. It took all the self control I had to not jump at her and scream at her and do anything that would make her not leave us. I knew what she was saying, she really liked him, but it had nothing to do with me and Fang. Nothing at all, and she sure as _heck_ didn't need to put that image in my head. What if Fang did die? What would I do without him?

Then I realized, I probably wouldn't do much besides pull an Iggy, jumping off a cliff. But that wasn't what this conversation was about.

"Nudge…" I said her name for about the tenth time tonight. "Are you saying you want to leave the flock to be with a boy you've known for _one_ freaking _day_?!" It wasn't Nudge. Okay, never mind. It was Nudge, wanting to leave the flock because she thought she found something better. But that wasn't what she had said just yet, and I was really hoping I didn't just toss her a bone to escape my destiny in a way that I couldn't but she could.

"You know what? Maybe that's what I _am_ saying!" She snarled and I flinched, now. I had just gotten her mad, and this may guarantee her leave. "If this is how you're going to treat me for the rest of my life, not giving me a chance to _live_ my life, maybe that _is_ what I want! Yeah, I've known him for 'one freaking day'," she made finger quotes around 'one freaking day', "But it's been the _best_ one freaking day of my _freaking life_. I don't want to leave him to just get captured and not know if I'll ever see him again. C'mon, Max. How did you feel when Fang left you? You hated it, and don't tell me you didn't. Angel was with us. She showed me. Do really want to put _me_ through that? Against my _will_?"

Oh, and did she think Fang leaving me wasn't against _my_ will? Did she think I really wanted to put her through that? I wouldn't want to put anyone through that, to be honest. "Listen, you'll have nowhere to stay if you leave us to stay with Sean. It's not like his parents will let some girl come live in their house who they've never even met before. With us you'll be safe and protected—"

"Hah!" She snorted. "On the run I'm 'safe and protected'? Where have you been the past… What? Year? I'm anything but safe when we're on the run. What if that sniper from D.C. had aimed for you but hit me instead? That's not very safe. It's just not fair, Max. If you ever knew how I felt you might understand it. But you don't, you have Fang, you always will. Iggy has Ella, he always will. I have Sean, I might lose him. All because you." I stared at her, my face frozen. Nudge used to be so carefree, and I missed that quality. It used to calm me down, honestly. Now she was just turning into a stubborn Angel, sometimes.

I lowered myself to the ground, not ready to go back just yet. I knew Fang would come get me sooner or later, but for now I just needed to think.

Nudge. Sean. The flock. Fang. Saving the world. Safety. Protection. Hah.

She was right. We were never safe and protected when we were on the run, and I wasn't sure why I'd even said that.

Before much more thought about that, I heard footsteps coming towards me, and I didn't even bother to look up. I had such a headache—thanks to all that dang yelling—I couldn't think straight. I guessed it was Fang, and that was confirmed when I wasn't stolen or trapped in a trap in the next second. "Max," he called, but I still didn't look up. He sat down next to me and started rubbing circles in-between my wings, dissolving my headache slowly. "Max," he repeated, but his voice was by my ear, this time.

"Fang." I replied, my head not being able to put together any more of a reply than that. I tried to wrap my arms around him, but as I went to move my right arm I stopped and pulled it back, pulling it close to my side. "Ow." I muttered, and he smirked.

"You keep forgetting about that…" He told me as he hugged me, avoiding that arm as best he could.

We sat in silence for a little while before I realized he was quiet because I was crying. I was crying? Hadn't really noticed that. I leaned into his chest and he put his chin on my head, still rubbing my back. "Can I know what happened?" He finally asked when my tears were almost done.

I sighed, collecting my thoughts and wiping my face on both my shoulders. "Nudge is thinking about staying here with Sean because she might never find him again if we leave. She really likes him, and he really likes her, but I don't see how it'll help her. I told her she has the rest of her life to find someone else and possibly find him again."

He laughed. "And how did that go?" He asked, referring to the last part. "Nudge doesn't deal well with that stuff, I take it?" He knew as well as I did when she wanted something she _wanted_ it and she wouldn't give up.

"She told me that me telling her that was just like her saying, 'Oh, if Fang dies you still have the rest of your life to find someone else or find that by some miracle he's not really dead.'" I told him, and I felt him stiffen. I laughed. "Don't worry; I wouldn't bother finding anyone else." He didn't relax but I figured he was remembering in the hotel what I said to Iggy, so I dropped it. "She's seriously thinking about staying. _Again_."

"Like I said last time, you have to want to be with someone. You have to choose." He murmured, and I thought about that night.

"Okay, yeah." I laughed. "Now that I know you're talking about Nudge… I don't know who she wants to be with more. _Us_ or _him_. I want it to be us, but I just don't know. He is nice. He's sweet. And he can give her a home. Nudge wants that more than anything."

He looked thoughtful for a moment, then looked down at me. "She came back to us last time. Maybe if we let her go she'll realize she needs us, still. More than Sean. More than a home."

That really sounded like a plan until I realized it was possible for her to realize she didn't need the flock as much as she needed Sean. "But what if she _doesn't_ need us! What if she just needs Sean the rest of her life?" My voice was a hoarse whisper, but inside I just wanted to scream.

"If that's how it ends up, then that's how it is. If I was in her position, and you were in Sean's position, I'd leave the flock to be with you." He told me honestly, and I nodded.

"I would, too." I admitted after a minute, and I wiped my tears again. "I guess we should get back?" I asked, and he sighed, but he didn't answer. Instead he leaned down and kissed me, probably for about ten minutes. Then he pulled away.

"Now we should," he smirked as he jumped to his feet to help me up.

On the way back it was silent, but it was only about a two minute walk. When we entered, Nudge was cuddled up against Sean, hugging his arm as tightly as she could manage. She didn't even look up at us, though I knew she knew we were back. Iggy and Ella were still huddled together, Ella's tears now stopping(finally). Angel and Gazzy were taking advantage of the food Sean had brought and were shoving their hands in boxes of cereal.

Angel looked up at me expectantly, but I just avoided her gaze and sat against the back wall again. "Yo. People. Food." I told everyone, nodding to the center. Ella looked around warily then got up to get some bread and lunch meat to make a sandwich. Iggy followed her, gently feeling around for the right meats for his sandwich, and finally Nudge got up for some food, as well.

After they were all eating I finally got up with Fang to pick a few things from the pile and retreated to the wall again. I thought about what our next move would be when I realized my mom would be here tomorrow, possibly offering us an option. If not I could always have a true-Max plan, made up on the spot.

I didn't know, and neither did anyone else, so instead of worrying, I just ate the food and refrained myself from talking the rest of the night.

The next day was just as bad as the previous day, even with my mom with me.

"Max!" My mom exclaimed as she ran towards me. "Oh, I was so worried!" She hugged me then pulled away almost immediately when I didn't respond. "Is Ella…" She asked, her voice full of fear. I nodded and turned around where the rest of the flock were standing and Ella stepped out from behind Iggy. "Oh! Ella! Ella, _Ella_!" Mom cried trotting towards her, before she saw all the bruises. "What _happened_?"

"Long story," Ella shrugged, and I guess she didn't want to talk about it again. She winced in pain as she hugged her mom lightly, backing away on shaky legs.

Mom and Ella talked about nothing in particular so I tuned them out and turned to Fang. "We may have saved Ella with ease, but what else is coming up? What is coming that _won't_ be easy?" I asked, my good arm wrapped around his waist, though not in a hug. I stood a few inches from him and looked up into his dark eyes.

He shrugged and caressed my face with his hand, stroking my hair with the other. "I don't know. I do know it's something. The Director and ter Bortch are bad news, and that's that." He told me and pulled me closer. "Don't worry about it right this second."

I nodded and pressed myself closer to him, sighing. Then I heard a voice calling my name.

"Max!" Nudge called as she skipped over to me and Fang. She was holding Sean's hand and he was almost running to keep up. "Guess what?!"

I wasn't up for guessing games right now. "What?" I sighed.

"Mrs. Black says I can stay if I want!" She practically shrieked. My guess was Sean's last name was Black. Mrs. Black was his mom. Nudge wanted to stay with Sean.

"Is Mrs. Black Sean's mom?" I asked warily, keeping the fear and pain out of my voice. Nudge nodded enthusiastically. "Alright." I nodded, unsure what else to do.

"She doesn't know we like each other, but we're not gonna kiss every second. We can't kiss unless we're not around her, anyways. We're young, anyways. I guess we really only kissed because we weren't sure what else to do. But we get to know each other even more! I mean, I already know him a bunch, even though it's been a day, but still! I can't believe it! I get to be with Sean! A whole bunch." She clarified, then continued. "I mean, I'll miss you guys and all, but we can always visit each other, right? Of course we can! ZOMG, I can_not_ believe this is happening!" She squealed and turned to Sean.

"Me either," he smiled, kissing her nose. He hugged her tight and she continued to jump around the yard, somehow managing not to trip. I turned to Fang.

Then I felt my throat tighten.

"Me either…"

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	24. I remember

**Okay, so this is a fluff chapter. xDD **

**REALLY fluffy. **

**It's OOC, ish. **

**So, yeah. :D **

**Disclaimer: I own the plot. Not Max... imum Ride. **

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It had been two days since we left Nudge, and now we were back at my mom's, just relaxing until something else happened.

"Max?" Angel asked, walking into the living room from the kitchen.

I looked up from my light nap in which I was sprawled across the couch, resting my head on Fang's lap. "Yeah, Ange?"

She looked up, then back down. "How long is Nudge gone for this time? When is she coming back?" She asked, walking towards the couch, reaching for my still crippled arm. Fang's eye's opened and he leaned his upper body forward a bit.

"We're not sure how long she's gone for…" He told Angel softly. "We don't know if she will come back."

I glanced up at him. He knew if I answered I'd keep her believing Nudge would come back eventually, no doubt. But truth was we didn't know, and we shouldn't lie to Angel.

"She really liked him… But she missed us as soon as our feet left the ground." Angel explained, and I nodded. I knew something like that would happen. "I know she could be really annoying but I really miss her, I do…" Her voice grew softer as she said the last sentence and she _very_ lightly ran her hand up and down my right arm.

My voice choked momentarily and I blinked back the tears I felt coming. "I know, sweetie. I miss her, too." I told her, stroking her hair with my left hand. "I think we all miss her a lot. But we'll be okay without her, and we can still visit her…" I trailed off as I realized how weird it would be if she really didn't come back.

"Everything will be different if she doesn't. We'll be missing a flock member. We'll be missing a family member." Angel's soft voice answered my thoughts without hesitation. Just then I realized this was just like when Iggy left us to be with his parents. We thought nothing would ever be the same without him, and it was different until he came back. Same with Nudge last time. But last time I knew she would be okay and that as soon as my mom was saved if she still wanted to go to school we could go with her.

It wasn't like that this time.

Angel backed away quietly, turning back towards the kitchen where her brother, Iggy, and Ella were. Just then, Fang looked down at me and pulled me into a sitting position on his lap. Somehow, he'd managed to avoid hurting my arm, and now I was face to face with him. "You really need to keep your thoughts to yourself when she's around." He told me seriously, pressing his forehead to mine so our noses just barely brushed. Then he looked over towards the door where Gazzy's head was just disappearing out of view. "Let's go in your room," he decided, letting me get off him so he could get up.

I nodded and disappeared down the hall, listening to giggling voices in the kitchen. "Iggy," I snapped without turning around. "I wouldn't be talking. Angel's told me plenty about you."

I heard his voice and Ella's come to a stop, and Angel's voice yelling, "I didn't! I swear, I swear! I didn't!" I smirked and Fang whispered in my ear, "What'd she tell you?"

We were at my room now and I turned around to face him, the edge of my lips turning up. "_Nothing_."

He laughed, remembering when we had this exact same conversation, right here, except Fang was the one who tricked Ella, and now I tricked Iggy. Ahh, life is good.

He pushed me further into my room, kicking the door shut and reaching behind him to turn the lock. Next thing I knew we were on my bed, kissing, just like last time. "Okay," I murmured as his lips traveled down my neck, "We have to remember to talk some so they'll shut up."

I felt his lips smirk as they pressed against mine again. "Okay, whatever you say." He pulled me closer then pulled away after a few minutes. "Arm? It okay?" He panted out of breath. I nodded then sat up.

"Anyways…" I murmured, actually starting a conversation. "Uhm, what will our next move be? They're obviously coming, again. We can't just sit around here. We have to go somewhere else, I don't want my mom getting hurt. Ella either."

Fang nodded, lifting me up onto his lap. "I know. We should go somewhere… I… don't know. Maybe like… Switzerland? They protected the Jews during the holocaust. They're the neutral country. The safe country." He smirked, realizing how stupid he must have sounded, but I was proud he knew something about history, and sighed in my face, his breath making my hair twitch. "Maybe your voice will come back and tell us where to go?"

I shrugged at his suggestion, kind of missing my voice. I had been wondering where it was and when it would show up again. "Maybe Jeb will show up again." I said sarcastically, hoping I hadn't just jinxed us. Talk of the voice reminded me of him, seeing that he could talk as the voice.

Fang grinned, hugging me closer to him. "I just don't see what else there is to do for you to save the world. It's not like you can magically make the temperature normal over night," He told me, closing his eyes for a moment. "And I don't get why it's _you_ who must save the world."

I looked at him, shocked. "Are you saying I can't do this?" I asked, my voice dripping with ice. Then he looked at me confused.

"No!" He shouted, finally realizing what he had said. "I just meant… It's not fair. We're always on the run because of it. Half the time it seems like the world is trying to save itself from us. But it's not. But you've done so much it's not fair to any of us in the flock when we have to suffer with you."

"Are you saying the flock hates life because they suffer constantly?" I challenged and he glared at me.

"You are _impossible_, Max." He breathed, pushing his forehead to mine to look me straight in the eyes. "I'm saying look what this all did to Nudge. And look at how many times we've almost lost each other. And look at how it literally tore us apart." He was referring to when he left me so long ago and I sighed.

"No offense, Fang, but the saving the world thing didn't tear us apart. You and I tore apart, and the flock was taken with us. Ari tore us apart, not the world." Then I thought. "But yes, you're right. Nudge is gone because of this and…" I lifted up his dark shirt to trace the claw marks Ari had left on him. Then I laughed and I made whiskers on his face, from when Ari attacked us on the beach. "I remember when you looked like a kitty cat." I smiled.

Then he grinned back. "I remember when you kissed me." He retorted and pressed his lips to mine for a short second.

"I remember when you kissed _Lissa_." I shot back and he frowned.

"I remember when you kissed _Sam_." He said.

"I remember when you kissed me," I said, referring to the time in the cave.

"I remember when you _loooooooooooooved _me. _This_ much," He explained, holding his arms out wide.

"I remember when you kissed me again." I murmured, remembering that was when I realized I was in love with him.

"I remember when you made me promise not to leave you again." He smiled.

"I remember when you agreed to never leave me again," I smiled back, "And sounded nothing like yourself." I added on.

"I remember when you tackled me on the sub," He grinned wider.

"I remember when you liked Brigid." I sneered and he looked at me.

"I don't remember that time…" He murmured, pulling me into his chest. "But I do remember when you were trying to _kill_ yourself on that beach."

"I don't remember that time. I remember wanting a chip out of my arm?" I asked, looking down. "I remember when you chose me." I referred to the time in the desert.

"I remember when you chose me."

"I remember when you said you loved me."

"I remember when you cried on my shoulder."

I snorted. "Right? Which time? The one on the beach? The one in the sub, or one of the other five hundred times?"

He smiled. "Every single one of them. All because I got to hold you, and be with you."

Okay, was it just me, or was Fang really sweet and romantic when we weren't around the flock? I mean, around the flock he hugged me and cuddled and all that crap that I only did because I'd be able to tell whether he was leaving or not(call me paranoid but I love him that much.), but with the flock he'd never voice any emotion. Now we were sitting here cuddling talking about things we remembered.

I'm guessing we could've gone on forever, but it came to a stop when I realized that Fang really was romantic. "You ever realize you're pretty gosh darn full of emotions, words, and feelings when we're not around the rest of the flock?" I asked, looking at him.

He smirked then, nodding. "I have nothing to say to them," he said simply. "But I don't have enough time to say everything I need to say to you, so I make the best of it." He smiled, pecking my lips against his again.

"You also smile a whole, whole bunch." I grinned, and his smiled widened.

"Of course. I'm with the one person who makes me smile," he pointed out, interlacing his fingers with mine. "It took me thirteen years to realize I loved you, and it took you longer. I feel like I'll never be able to make up all the time I wasted figuring out my feelings, but I'll try."

I put my head against his chest, hiding my face. If the flock ever saw me and Fang like we were now, they'd ask where the real Max and Fang were. And honestly, I was asking myself that, too.

"It took me forever to figure it out," I admitted, and then looked up. "I'm sorry." He smiled and was about to say something but then my mind pointed out something else he said. "Thirteen years?"

"Yup." He announced, popping the 'p' at the end. "Thank TV." He smirked. "I always thought I felt different about you because you were my absolute best friend. You were like my sister. But then I realized the rest of the flock were like my brothers and sisters, and then I thought it was just because you were my best friend. Then some romantic mushy-gushy movie came on and I realized I might love you. After that I tried to ignore that, but eventually I had to admit to myself: yes, I did love you. Yes, I needed you more than anything else in my life. And you were the reason I was still alive, still keeping my head held high, still having _faith_." He told me in a soft whisper. "I know, I know. I'm turning into a cheese boy, but it's true. I really do love you. And that's why everything we've gone through in the past few months has just brought us closer. And then I realized it was for a reason. Things were turning in my favor, you were getting even closer to me than before, and you were making me give up my name as the quiet man in the flock. Then you kissed me back on the dock, and I couldn't believe it. Then you ran away. Then Brigid, and then my major confused moment. Finally, the desert, then from then on, I was done holding back from you." He stopped and heaved an exasperated sigh. "Oh jeez, I'm taking Nudge's place on Nudge's channel."

My mouth was slightly open as I listened to his words. "Holy crap, Fang!" I breathed out, then wrapped my good arm around him. "Thank TV…" I smiled and looked up at him. He smiled then pressed his lips to mine, not just a peck this time, but it wasn't a normal kiss, either. We were both smiling wide and it was like heaven. However, heaven isn't even good enough to describe this.

Fang's hands were on my hips, and my left arm wrapped around his neck, pulling his face as close to mine as physically possible.

And that was pretty much that. In about five minutes, Fang had managed to make me fall in love with him again, and I was pretty sure that if I died right now, knowing all that mushy stuff… I'd die happier than I'd ever been in my entire life.

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**Told you it was mostly fluff. **

**And that it was OOC. xD **

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